Running Head: A SENSORY EXPLORATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE 1

A Sensory Exploration in the Digital Age

By Richard Clarkson

Tutor: Johann Nortje

CCDN231

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Through the camera we digitalised sight and through the speaker we digitalised sound. Though the

benefits of both can be seen everywhere it is the side effects that go unnoticed. Sight has always

been considered our primary sense and even more so in the 21st century, but the focus put on sight

has unbalanced our other senses to the degree that we are losing touch with them.

To restore the balance of the senses we must first isolate each sensory experience then use it to its

full potential. It is not until we are forced to depend on only one sense at a time that we realise the

true capability of the each of our senses.

In each sensory exploration I looked at how an interaction with a small hidden object could

reveal an aspect derived from an everyday activity, in this case; density, continuity and precision.

There is an example of touch, sound, taste and smell for each aspect; some are very obvious while

others require more thought from the user. The user must also experiment with how to engage with

the object; for example a user must press one of the objects against their ear for the experience to be

activated, in others the user must invert and shake and in some the user must reach into unknown

blackness. This exploration is all about rediscovering our senses in modern society.

Density

The smell of wet newspaper, the taste of crushed walnuts, the sound of a jam jar lid and the texture

of cast plaster are all everyday things that, when isolated, imply a feeling of density or being dense.

What is it about the characteristics and properties of each that imply this? I believe it is previous

experiences with these objects combined with cultural/societal defaults. In the examples given

above each has a reference point that hints at something dense whether it is something hard, packed

tightly, thick, fibrous or deeply pitched. I chose, manufactured, manipulated and presented each of

these objects in order to display the qualities that represent density and minimise representations of

things not related to density.

A user having undergone the first of the density sensory experiences will have generated a

mental list of a wide range of possibilities about what I am hinting at, after experiencing another,

the user will either confirm or reject items from that list and so on until all experiences are complete

and the user is thinking and feeling density. In this way the brain is involved, for without memory of

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sensory experiences as reference points the senses would be rendered useless. A child who touches a

hot kettle burns themselves will forever after use that sensory experience as a reference point in

order to avoid burning themselves in future. With the density set I hope to open people’s senses up

to all things dense, I hope for them to use the density sensory experience as a reference point when

they come into contact with density in the everyday, most importantly I want them to recognise and

take notice of these everyday experiences.

Continuity

An uninterrupted, continuous taste would be a person's own taste of the inside of their mouths, at a

very young age we set that taste as default and compare everything else against that. A passionate

kiss reveals that everyone’s taste is unique, such as a finger print, so how to create an object to

make people taste themselves? Simply make them taste a droplet of water, they will be

concentrating so hard on trying to taste the droplet they will stumble upon their own taste, it will

most likely taste like nothing but that is exactly the point - the taste is them! They will continue to

taste that taste for their lifetime.

Continuity is a common theme throughout a set, my set has a continuity running through it

of black covered cylinders, each is slightly different but is linked to its neighbour visually and

texturally. These links are important when it comes to continuity as they express the unity that this

set is about. The touch section of this set uses beads as a representation of unity and the links

formed, the user can move the beads around and manipulate the position of them but as long as they

remain together there will be continuity across them. As a motor is turned on and off the weight of it

forces it to continue for a short while after the power has shut off, this will also lead people on the

train of thought of electricity and that the motor is Direct Current (DC), a continuous uninterrupted

power supply as opposed to Alternating current (AC).

Finding a smell for continuity was perhaps the most difficult challenge for this set and one

that needs an explanation to help the user conclude its meaning, for this I used earth and water, my

reasoning being that it is predominantly what makes up everything we come into contact with.

Between all the things we interact with there is a special type of continuity that we often forget,

everything, in its most basic form, begins life using earth and water.

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Precision

The first thought that entered my head when I thought of being precise was the expression 'pin point

precision,' so choosing a touch that represented precision was very straightforward, a needle. What

was interesting about this is that it affects all the other sensory experiences. In telling the user that

one of the cylinders contained a sharp needle they employ caution across the whole set and in this

way they are thinking more about each interaction than they would if they were casually touching or

interacting with the objects. As this exploration is about increasing awareness and thinking of the

senses this is a very desirable effect.

The second thought was a the sound of a high pitched, piercing tone, activated by the touch

of a user, the abruptness of this type of switch both on and off helps to portray a feeling of

sharpness and accuracy. This sound also references a smoke alarm which is a sound we are trained

to pick up on and recognise instantly. Certain sensory experiences have this training effect that

begin to make them stand out more than others, such as the smell of burning or fire and the sound of

a smoke alarm, the two together are an example of a combination of sensory experiences that help

to determine a meaning, as in my three sets.

To find out about the taste and smell of precision you will have to undergo this sensory

experience for yourself.

Overall this exploration of each of the three sets is about rediscovering the senses we are not fully

utilising in modern society, it is about taking the time to truly taste, smell, touch, hear and see. It is

about living, truly living, through all of the senses.

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Bibliography

Jütte, R. (2005). A History of the Senses - from Antiquity to Cyberspace. (J. Lynn, Trans.)

Cambridge: Polity Press.

Mueller, C. G. (1965). Sensory Psychology - Foundations of Modern Psychology series. London:

Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Smith, M. M. (2007). Sensing the Past - Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting and Touching in

History. Los Angeles: University of California Press.