Reflections on bodies in lockdown: The polyphony of touch

Abstract

The following text can be read as a description of my practice-as-research that investigates artistic strategies that activate the sense of touch. As I examine, through my body, how to evoke the bodily involvement of the participant/public either via actual, physical interaction or via the internal, sensorimotor experience of touch(ing), I focus on the component ‘presence’ (Gumbrecht, 2004) within the aesthetic experience. The text is written to offer insight on the perspectives that influence my studio practice: a search for tactile sensations, an embodied knowledge of previous works, my study of literature and theory, and feedback from public presentations. Perspectives that are situated within a dynamic, everchanging world. In a continuous search to represent the many voices (Christophe, 2018), enacted in tactile interaction with bodies, organisms, objects and materials, I alternate between the viewpoints of: