<S/O>(<O/S>)

2018 | cognitive experiment, media installation
electrical muscle stimulation / experiment through exhibition / self and other


The two who face each other are seated with their sight and hearing blocked. Both parties perform "communication" through the inner senses of the body as follows. The movements of both right hands are sensed, and the left hand is equipped with an electromyographic stimulator (EMS). When one hand makes a specific gesture with the right hand, the left hand of the opponent is moved by electrical stimulation so that the movement is reproduced. Similarly, when the opponent makes a gesture with the right hand, the left hand is moved by electrically stimulating the left hand to reproduce the gesture of the opponent.

Experiencers are taught to send gestures like this throughout the experience. However, in the middle of the process, the program that learned the gesture pattern sent by itself automatically switches to the state where the reaction is returned. Eventually, the same gestures sent by the experience-maker will just return. In other words, the person who was supposed to be the other person gradually replaced himself. This work is an attempt to discover "the other in the self".

This experience may remind you of a closed world view that you are just a reflection of yourself with others, but the interaction that takes place over the framework of the "body" through EMS puts others inside you. It is also an act of inclusion. The indefinite boundaries between oneself and the other enable access to others and the outside world. On the other hand, the act of recognizing the past self as another person over time gives the feeling that I in the past is also another person.