The Alien Between Us is an interactive art installation that explores mediated intimacy through technology. At its core, the project asks what happens when we remove visual identity, particularly gender, from human interaction. Rooted in a technofeminist and queer psychoanalytical framework, the work aims to create a space where traditional social constructs dissolve, allowing participants to connect through sensation rather than appearance or assumption.
The installation features two sculptures resembling alien organs or fetuses, which serve both as visual metaphors and interactive devices. Two participants enter from opposite sides and engage with the sculptures without seeing each other. Their interaction is mediated through Mediated Social Touch (MST), a haptic technology framework in which touch is simulated and transmitted over distances, enabling remote bodily communication. The sculptures become animated by the presence of the visitors and their physiological data, detected using radar sensors. This technology captures biometric signals, such as heartbeat and breath rate, and transmits them to the other participant. In this way, they feel each other’s bodily rhythms, as well as temperature, through the sculptures which they can hold in their arms like a baby. The data is interpreted and visualised via light, vibration, and movement.
With this research, the artist moves away from binary concepts like yes/no and instead thinks of consent as something inferred rather than explicitly requested. If one participant experiences discomfort or stress, their biosignals shift, and this change is made visible through the sculpture’s behaviour. This invites both parties to attune to one another and adjust their behaviour somatically. The resulting feedback loop fosters a form of embodied care and responsiveness, leading to a new understanding of intimacy and consent through mutual regulation.
Additionally, a built-in self-defence mechanism gets activated when abusive behaviour is detected with an electrical stimulation delivered to the participant’s hand, making them unable to touch for a few seconds.
Installation
Silcion, foam, electronics, wood, metal, resin, plexiglass, textile
2025
The Hague
Related shows:
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13.05.2025: The Other AI until 13.05.2025- v2 Lab for the Unstable Media
- Symposium
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03.07.2025: KABK Graduation Show until 08.07.2025- ArtScience Interfaculty Master Programme
- Graduation Show
