13 December 2016

“Empathetic” objects tell us their story in an artistic proposal by La Salle-URL

Nowadays, there is a one-way relationship between people and objects. What role play emotions in our relationship with everyday objects? Is there an empathetic relationship between objects and people?

Seamless interaction

All objects around us have personality, a story told through their use, aesthetics and life. Today many of these everyday objects hold technologies designed to try to empathize with people. But what would happen if integrated technology helps them to express themselves? What would they narrate? Could we empathize with them?

Seamless Interaction researchers from La Salle-URL Technology Media Group asked themselves these questions and wanted to answer them. As result, the project “Beat as One” emerged, the first foray of the research group in the field of media art, which has been named ‘Snow CP Collective’.

In “Beat as One” roles are reversed. The objects, in this case chairs, have a story and a personality that they want to share but need the help of a person to make it emerge. The chairs have a story to tell where users are those who have to listen to the objects. Based on this approach, the chairs come alive and expose their story through an emotional set of lights, projections and sound. The seated person is part of the artistic work that is generated through an act of empathy. By this role exchange, the intention is to create a reflection on the participants and analyse the empathy that are capable of achieving. The goal of Seamless Interaction works especially in the relationship between people and objects through technology, and how this can accompany us and to arouse our emotions.

Installation