#taction3d

For my 3D I wanted to create a touch box/sensory box to compare how different people's brains processed touch without other senses. For the objects for the box I wanted to transform common household objects, like surrealist sculpture. I was really influenced by Méret Oppenheim's Le Déjeuner en Fourrure, the texture looks so upsetting to me. I also really liked the idea of mixing hard and soft textures in unexpected places, especially with textiles since they are comforting soft textures. Marie Rullions daily haptics ceramics collection was another inspiration.

For the actual box I originally wanted to use rapid prototyping to create a wooden box, I made this cardboard mockup with interlocking joints. It wasn't very sturdy, I used a similar method to make a lamp for my GD3 class and it took alot of glue to make it stand. I decided to just buy a storage box from ikea, cut a hole and hot glue fabric to cover the hole.

I decided on 3 objects- a stuffed rabbit filled with rocks, a knitted swatch stiffened with glue and a glass covered in fabric. I used mostly objects/materials I already had. The rabbit came from a crit, Paul said that a past student did something similar for their project. I wanted to knit because I really like the texture of it and I wanted to subvert the softness. And the glasses are inspired by a project my Dad whos an elementary art teacher did with his students.

The knitted swatch took ages to dry and the centre wasn't fully dry when I started the experiment, I had to hold it under the bathroom hand dryer :/

Here I'm testing out different methods for tying the tights around the glass, I went with hand stitching.

I then asked 10 people I know to touch the objects, draw what they felt and write observations. I went with 2 minutes to touch the objects and how every much time they needed to write and draw. I was originally going to do each object separately but I decided to put them in the box at the same time so It would flow smoother and be faster.

Thank you to my friends, classmates and prof for participating!!

Right now I'm finishing designing the booklet collecting all the drawings. Something that came to mind when organizing everyone's responses was google's Quick, Draw!, it's a game designed to train a neural network on users drawings. The sets of data remind me of my data, with how the drawings range in detail and how they are influenced by people's frame of reference.

I was also thinking about the Aphantasia test diagrams, measuring how well someone can picture objects. I think that ability plays into how accurate people were doing my test. It'd be interesting to ask people where they fall on this scale.

This linear format also influenced how I am arranging the drawings in my booklet

I want to create a book or set of books exploring touch and tactility more in depth than my 2D project. I'm planning to use a mix of text, images and embossing through out, with braille translations for all the printed text. I think It could be interesting to have these 2 narratives alongside each other, have the embossed images and text be different than the printed. I'm not sure about the content of the book(s) yet, I need to work to create images and text.

Below are some inspiration images sourced from my Pinterest board. Having an embossed cover will be a must, I love how it looks. I like the concept of a hand shaped book but I'm worried it's too on the nose.