Oblivious

A naked man is sleeping on this table. As you touch the soft surface of the table, the man reacts physically. He wiggles, leans or rolls over in response to your pokes, prods, caresses, tickles and slaps. In response to the intensity and frequency of your touch, as if shrinking from this unbidden intimacy, his image fades away. Oblivious touches on issues of power, vulnerability, potential for abuse or intimacy, as well as our level of comfort with a naked male body.

The image of the man fades in the areas that have been touched the most. Over time, as more and more people interact with him, those areas will become rubbed or "touched" away. His evolving body becomes a record of people's hands and where they have chosen to touch him. At the beginning of an exhibition he will be completely opaque, present and oblivious of your existence; over time he will change in accordance with the collective interaction.

The photos above include images from the final piece and electronics from all three generations of Oblivious. The video below is of Oblvious in action. Ben Potsaid programmed the pic microcontroller for the final version and helped design the electronic schematics. James Murphy helped with the second version by working with me to construct the electronic field sensor electronics. For the first prototype of the electronics, I worked alone.