Ethics of Touch in Art Practice During Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Starting PhD research about sense of touch, and responsive materiality during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic became an ethical journey in Art Practice, Phenomenology, and the materiality of Computer Human Interaction. This paper is a reflective and critical account of practice-led research within lockdown limitations. It includes the personal perspective of an early career researcher and maker’s response to a health emergency. The reflection is focused on the impossibility of creating a physically shared tactile experience as direct contact between skin and matter which, in times of isolation, sparked a conversation within the supervision team, and colleagues on different aspects of touch: agency, contact, self-awareness, research documentation, and ethical implications. My PhD drastically evolved from investigating how the somatosensory system can enhance wellbeing, to exploring how material-based approaches can comprehend tech-matter-human relationship. The research is supported by ‘100 Year Life’ project at Lab4Living, Sheffield Hallam University. In a study that set out to explore the nature and potentiality of touch through human material interaction, in the context of high risk of contagion through touch during COVID I was compelled to consider alternatives. The paper is about the interrogation the touch screen as the safe replacement for human interaction.