Costume as a shared sensorial experience

Abstract

This research report discusses the creation of a costume for the spectator that stimulates sensorial experiences of internalized feelings. Under the project title Sense my Thoughts, we constructed two wearable prototypes: one for the performer and the other one for the spectator. Wearable electronics embedded both in the performer’s and the spectator’s garments allow the spectator to become directly connected with the performer’s emotional experience through costume. This enables the spectators to identify with the onstage character through a personal connection and immerse themselves in the performance on a multi-sensorial level. The goal of our practice-as-research was to design wearables that measure and transmit the performer’s biometric data in a sensorial format, which the spectator would be able to feel on/in their own body in real time. We assembled one garment that captures performer’s input data, such as brainwaves, heartbeat and breathing, and interpret them as different emotional states. We then connected it wirelessly to another garment that we named the spectator’s costume, which receives the performer’s data and activates hidden vibrational motors, speakers, heaters and coolers as various combinations of physical stimuli. In this article, we focus on the latter garment and explain how the spectator’s costume can become an agent of the wearer’s empathic engagement through stimulating the suggestion of the performer’s embodied experiences. The work presented here is still in an early stage of development and, therefore, the conclusions are based on small-scale prototype research.