A prototype on the balancing act of our body and how we can make apparent and tangible the relationship of posture on movement. It consists of two wearables, that together map the way you are putting pressure on your feet onto inflatables that nudge your body into positions exaggerating your imbalance.
Embodied Interaction Course within the BA Interaction Design at ZHdK
Mentors: Dr Joëlle Bitton, Verena Ziegler, Aurelian Ammon
The course proposed an examination and speculation of technologies as they relate to Embodied Interaction (ie. mobile computing, wearable interfaces, location-based interactions and digital fabrication...). Specifically we were asked to design for informing our bodily environment with personal data and as such propose forms of body extension.
Answering Research Questions such as: How can data be materialised in physical form? Can the data be understood, or is it a purely aesthetic output?
The first steps – an ability we've been training since we were toddlers. Years later, using our feet to get from A to B is given as much thought as breathing, at least until it’s not working the way it should. Whether it's walking, running or strolling, the act in itself is more or less unconscious in our everyday life. The relationship between how we walk and our posture, is something many people aren't actively aware of. With our prototype, we want to explore and hone in on that correlation by exploiting the body's natural predisposition to counteract and balance any shifts with the rest of its mass. The wearers attention should shift onto the actions of moving ones body and the consequences this generates. How much weight do we put on the the different parts of our feet and to which extend does this influence the way you hold the rest of your body? We addressed this in a playful and performative way, by designed two wearables which are in a constant feedback loop. The input of pressure on different parts of the feet are mapped as movement onto the upper chest and arms, exaggerating the natural movement of the body to counteract this weight distribution in the feet to keep us upright and as such creating imbalance in this normally perfectly calibrated process. Our prototype should interrupt this constant unconscious movement in our everyday life by making habitual movements have new impacts and making the wearer feel just how connected and complex the mundane is when it comes to our bodies.
.jpeg)
