Interactive installations can lead to interactions such as collaboration and communication between disparate individuals in various social contexts. In this study, we employ the notion of interpersonal body touch to explore how the social value of urban places can be further leveraged. In this project, we describe the development and demonstration of an interactive media installation named BodyPipe, wherein participants interact with each other through visual and auditory feedback based on interpersonal body contact. The results of our in-the-wild study show that participants collaborate using their entire body, physically “play” in specific patterns of bodily interactions, and share experience using feedback modalities. Further, we identify interaction behaviors such as the dominance and merging of different groups of participants. The study highlights interpersonal touch applied to public installations as a promising arrangement to foster social intimacy and motivate physical play.
BodyPipe from Hong on Vimeo.
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