In ArTouch, we explore the ways in which radical atoms can change the paradigms in which we experience art and paintings.  We challenge the natural convention of simply looking at painting by inviting the visitor to touch and interact with our art in new tangible ways creating a richer experience.  In this way, we create not only evolutionary pieces of art, but also art that become collaborative as different visitors interact with the piece throughout the course of the day.

The video below presents our vision for a few of the interactions made possible by our system.

In making the video, we concentrated on three main objects for use in interacting with the art — the hands, face, and mouth.  We feel that these “implements” make the interactions natural and ubiquitous.  In this video we highlighted three main interactions.  First was the ability to reveal hidden layers of a painting by blowing away top layers.  These underlying layers could reveal an artists method for creating a work or specially created textures left there by the artist for the visitor to discover.  Secondly, visitors participated in collaboratively creating a work through changing the physical texture.  Using their hands, visitors could smooth out various sections of the piece transitioning from rough rock, to smooth clay, and finally to the shiny bottom layer.  Over time, the roughness returns indicating how long it has been since the last interaction and giving new visitors an opportunity to interact with it.  Finally, the last piece of art invited the visitor to explore their own emotional state through abstract textures.  By sensing the visitor’s mood, the painting could change its texture and physical resistance to motion accordingly.

Physical prototype showing underlying mechanisms used to create textures on the left. The right side shows an enlarged area of the image for closer examination of local texture. This area is remotely linked to textures in the first panel as seen in the second image.

In our physical prototype as seen in the images below, we wanted to highlight some ideas not presented in the vision video or only hinted at.  First was the idea of remote interactions.  Using a set of textured wheels that were coupled by an elastic belt, we create a dynamic texture that that responds to changes in either picture.  We also explored the idea of interactions that could change based on previous input through the use of a Peltier device that can heat or cool depending on the state that the previous user determined.

We feel that ArTouch will not only revolutionize how art is experienced in museums, but will also bring more art into personal spaces through the use of remote collaboration.  This collaboration will create a more personal piece of art that can be enjoyed in new ways everyday making for a more exciting, tangible experience.

For more information regarding our project, please take a look at our our presentation slides (PDF) or paper (PDF).

Contributions:
Jessie Austin-Breneman – Physical prototyping, presentation
Zachary Barryte – Physical prototyping, presentation
Eric Jones – Physical prototyping, presentation
Woong Ki Sung – Vision video making, presentation
Wenting Guo – Vision video, presentation
Trygve Wastvedt – Vision video, presentation