" When the Tobacco smoke smells also of the mouth which exales it the two odors Are married by Infra-Slim"
Marcel Duchamp 1942
Infra-Thin is a multi-modal interface for creating Animations in liminal space.
The general premis for a researcher is to map the terrain of a field of knowledge, to be able to see it's boundaries and plot new expansive directions. At the point of Infra-Thin's making none of the ubiquitous touch screens we are now accustomed to were in circulation. Through my research and practice it became notable that new modes of engagement with digital information were forthcoming, in particular forms of tangibility, and physicality.
Building upon earlier liminal works of combining digital and physcial environments, I wanted to make more difficult parallel animated movements, to create systems where all the screens were not visible at any given time. The solution to this was to use the sensation of Touch, through Vibration.
Two facing screens pass information between them. A viewer stands on a soundfloor that acts as a form of stage. Using the 'Hass effect' the sound/ vibration travels across the floor in perceivably distinct blocks, allowing the audience to be able to percieve the trajectory and position of the movement at all times, through the switcing of perceptual registers.
There was the temptation to give this and other related installation work, a highly polished technological aesthetic. In India whenever means are scarce, whatever is at hand is used to complete the job. I call this Desi technology and Desi Methdology. Having only a small budget for these works, I spent time at Vauxhall market looking for old speakers, and purposefully chose cheaper MDF, Plywood, and Pine. I wanted it to have a kind of Raw, organic feeling, that may emerge from someones home workshop or gararge. I wanted them to have the look and feel of prototypes.
In my younger days, I spent a lot of time dancing inches from huge speaker stacks, or sitting on top of them, reveling in the pleasure of vibration resonating throughout my body. I feel those experiences of UK DIY sound system culture played a big part in the development of this work