Haptic Thought Laboratory

Overview

This long term project investigates the sense of touch through algorithmic processes and participatory practices. It develops new ways to haptically explore sounds and abstract objects.

To establish a basis for rethinking the sense of touch, we develop research methodology inspired by philosophical considerations, embodied cognition and performance art.

For a close connection between formalism, touch, and sound, high precision force-feedback interfaces are brought into the loop of a realtime audio signal processing language. Because the complete signal flow can be live coded, the dynamics of the system can be reconfigured at runtime.

The laboratory and performance setting allows us to:

• develop a haptic sense of abstract objects and dynamical systems
• establish a continuum between touch and hearing
• bring skills of instrumentalists into electronic music
• conduct basic research in haptic perception and embodied cognition

The results are made public through workshops, and open source and open access repositories. Ongoing develompment currently is published here.

The project was initiated by Prof. Julian Rohrhuber within the Institute of Music and Media in Düsseldorf, where it is part of the work of the Forschungsgruppe Epistemische Medien.

Researchers

• Prof. Manuel Eguia
• Myriam Lefkowitz
• Lennart Melzer
• Prof. Julian Rohrhuber

Associated Student Researchers

David Hanraths, studies Epistemic Media at the Institute for Music and Media

Advisory Board

• Lendl Barcelos, independent researcher, Porto
• Kate Sicchio, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Manuel Eguia, National University of Quilmes, Argentinia
• Till Bovermann, Hochschule für Musik und Theater, München

Cooperation

The Haptic Thought Laboratory provides a space for cooperations with institutions to further free research in the environment of an art academy. It also welcomes individuals that do not have an institutional afiliation.

Funding

A first phase was financed through the Fellowships für Innovationen in der digitalen Hochschullehre of the county NRW. The current second phase is financed through the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and supported by a grant of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina (PUNQ 1598/25) and the Paul Otto Faßbender Stiftung.