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In this article I explore a perspective that the philosophical concepts of German phenomenologist Hermann Schmitz (*1928) may open up for thinking about the growing practice of wearing textile integrated electronics directly on the body. It is my contention that traditional conceptions of wearing (non-technological) clothing on the body fail to capture the changed situation and I hence suggest a paradigm shift is needed to think about the novel scope of affects that can be related to body-technology communication. Schmitz’s concepts of the perceptive felt body, corporeal communication and emotions as atmospheres perceived as outside, on or close to the ‘material’ body will be elaborated upon to investigate how they may enhance existing notions of bodily perception and human-technology relations. The case study used for this philosophical investigation is found in the Tactile Sleeve for Social Touch, a wearable created by Elitac, HvA and UTwente, which allows sensations of stroking, tapping and touching to be communicated from one person to another across a distance.
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Lighting in video games is used to set moods and atmosphere, or can serve as a gameplay tool. This paper examines the effects lighting concepts can have on a virtual game environment on the players’ navigation within the game. Previously known lighting concepts were tested in a virtual environment to determine if they have a similar effect on the perception of the presented virtual space as they do in real life, as well as the effect they have on the navigational behavior of players. In a game-experiment with 50 male participants we show that the previously known lighting concepts apply to the virtual environment in a similar manner as they do in real life, although the effects on the navigational behavior of the participants remain inconclusive.
In their attempts to offer visitors meaningful experiences in historical churches, museums are increasingly experimenting with augmented reality. Arguing that an augmented reality experience should be counted as a material event in its own right, I focus on the aesthetic strategies employed in two augmented reality experiences. The first is an augmented virtuality installation that was presented in the Old Church in Amsterdam (Netherlands). The second concerns a HoloLens experience hosted by St. Peter’s Church in Leuven (Belgium). Drawing on the work of Gernot Böhme (2017) and undertaking a sensory auto-ethnography, I demonstrate how bodily sensations in these augmented reality experiences altered my affective involvement with the church spaces. I found that strategies of defamiliarisation and fragmentation affected my disposition, effectively personalising the perceptional relationship between the church as an authoritative institution and myself in the role as the visitor. Building on recent discussions on museums’ function in society, I also discuss the potential of augmented reality experiences to play on a multitude of meanings, and particularly, in staging dispositions that move away from universal truths.