Touch at Kyotoplaytest 2024
Touch (2024)
Individual Project
Summary
"Touch" is about our reemergence after the isolation experience during the Covid pandemic of 2020, celebrating physical interaction and face-to-face play once again.
The Experience
"Touch" invites participants to reconnect through a unique, interactive soundscape. The experience begins when participants hold hands, initiating looped music. As they explore further, tapping each other's hands and fingers triggers additional sounds layered over the base loop. Participants gradually discover that touching any skin surface produces sounds, encouraging playful experimentation and the gradual dissolution of physical boundaries. The installation allows for multiple players to join, creating chains of connection around the table.
The Technology
"Touch" uses a repurposed chabudai, a Japanese low table, with sheets of copper inlaid onto the table surface. What lies below the table is the hidden circuitry and hardware that allows for the intimate, hands-on experience between the participants. The conductive surface is connected to an Arduino Nano that senses completed circuits. The Nano controls a Raspberry Pi MIDI sound player, with audio output managed through a Piomori Pirate Audio sound card connected to a speaker. Code: GitHub
The Space
Playtest Kyoto took place in an akiya, a Japanese abandoned home. In the same room as the interactive chabudai, additional experimental pieces expanded the sensory experience. A pair of found chairs were embedded with multiple switches, playing sounds in response to participants' butt movements as they sat. An old desk equipped with photosensors reacted when drawers were opened, pulled out, or completely closed. These varied elements created a multisensory environment, inviting participants to explore different forms of interaction and rediscover the joy of physical engagement in a post-pandemic world.
Exhibitions/Demos
- 2024 Playtest Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
