Eigengrau

[craigfahner]

Description

Eigengrau (a term used to describe what is seen through closed eyes) is a web-based artwork that facilitates a sense of connection with others while resisting the rapid cognitive pace demanded by dominant social media platforms. It is a platform that can only be interacted with when users close their eyes. Using socket.io and p5js, an in-browser facial feature tracker detects when a participant's eyes are closed, at which point, an audible tone is generated. When multiple users visit the site and close their eyes simultaneously, harmonized tones are produced for each user and broadcast across the network, resulting in a collectively played organ.

This project encourages users to slow down, and through deep listening, acknowledge a moment shared with others. It is my hope that this project can create an opportunity for conference attendees to experience a more meditative sense of togetherness, in contrast to the screen exhaustion often brought about by videoconferencing-based events. Furthermore, this work seeks to activate, through a collaborative interactive experience, the metaphor of listening that is central to notions of peer-to-peer networking. A presentation will accompany this artwork, articulating the research that has gone into the project.

Type: Online artwork and presentation
Length*: Artwork is of variable duration - participants can interact as long as they choose | presentation is under 20 minutes
Date: between August 7-9
Duration: ongoing
Language: Presentation is in English | Artwork contains no text

*Note: all talks will be capped at 30 minutes with time for discussion and questions

Objective

• Explore how metaphors of touch and copresence might express the poetics of p2p networking
• Examine the possibilities of artist-produced platforms as modes of algorithmic resistance
• Provide conference attendees a mode of connection that resists the "screen fatigue" associated with videoconferencing and other information-dense forms

Material and Technical Requirements

Platform:
Technical considerations: Project scales to accommodate 100+ users (each iteration or "room" can support up to 10 users). Users require access to a mobile device or computer with a webcam. I will host the project on a personal server.

Presenter(s)

Name: Craig Fahner
Email: craig.fahner@gmail.com
Url(s): Artist Website, Vimeo, Glitch.com
GitHub: GitHub

Presenter Bio

Craig Fahner is an artist and musician based in Toronto. Fahner’s interactive media artworks examine the politics and poetics of invisible digital infrastructures. His works have been exhibited in various venues and festivals internationally, including the Museo de la Ciudad in Queretaro, Mexico, and the Device Art Triennial in Zagreb. He is currently developing a SSHRC-supported research project called "Inverting the Algorithmic Gaze" as a PhD candidate in the Joint Program in Communication & Culture at York and Ryerson Universities.