The Meatbook: tangible and visceral interaction

ABSTRACT

The Meatbook, an interactive art installation, explores the use of a novel tangible interface to provoke a visceral response in the viewer. The Meatbook presents the symbiosis of the mechanical and the organic as it simultaneously juxtaposes the conflicting materiality of these media. Sensors, motors and other mechanics are used to animate the meat, generating movements specifically designed to produce visceral, even cathartic responses from the user. By simultaneously generating revulsion and fascination, the user undergoes an embodied experience in which the alien and the familiar come together in the form of a book.

REFERENCES

• 1: Catts, O. and Zurr. I. "Towards a New Class of Being: The Extended Body." Intelligent Agent. June 2002.
• 2: Brandejs, Adam. Animatronic Flesh Shoe {2004 - 2005} (Moving, twitching, pulsating.) http://www.brandejs.ca/portfolio5/shoe.php
• 3: Willet, J. and Bailey, S. "BIOTEKNICA: A case Study in Bioethics and Human Tissue Culture Art. BioArts Conference Proceedings. Forthcoming in MIT Press. USA 2007.
• 4: Gromala, D. Remediated Flesh: Organic Matter and Visceral Sensations in BioTechnology Research. In Proc. of Consciousness Reframed, Plymouth, England. 2006.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

Keywords:
organic-inorganic interfaces, tangible interfaces for artworks