Bea Dieker (Frankfurt, Germany)

Appealing or Disgusting? Atmospheres: The Most Powerful Game Changers

What makes an apartment, a city, an employer, or a means of transportation appealing or unappealing? Are the factors aesthetic, or are they social? Material or immaterial? And isn’t all of this highly subjective? When people wait together for the bus in the rain, we see how weather, architecture, and personal interactions come together to create something entirely new: an atmosphere. However, when we examine these elements separately (weather = natural sciences, architecture = aesthetics, personal interactions = human sciences), we fail to grasp their interplay.
I propose a new perspective. Atmospheres result from the resonance of environments and situations and we should explore what drives them. I have identified FIVE FORCES: space, actors, events, sensory qualities, and culture. These forces can be atmospherically felt and experienced, independent of their specific manifestations. Every atmosphere consists of all five forces. Focusing on these FIVE FORCES—and not on the disparate and multimodal elements within them—provides an entirely new approach to designing atmospheres.
We have the power to consciously design atmospheres—in our cities, workplaces, and living spaces. What if public transportation systems made us feel lightness, buildings gave us protection, and workplaces fostered a sense of belonging? Let’s start making that happen.
Keywords: phenomenology, ambiance, atmospheres, aesthetics, sociology

Peter Farbridge & Crystal Chan (Postmarginal, Montreal, Canada) 

The Sensory Machine - alt[d]: Marginality, Sense and Technology

"La machine des sens/The Sensory Machine” is a research and development project focused on dramaturgy of the senses. The timing of the conference is ideal. It follows the project’s residency at Eastern Bloc (22 April to 4 May) and precedes a two-day conference organized with Théâtre Déchaînés and public performance of the work-in-progress at Bâtiment7 (22 May to 26 May). At Uncommon Senses, Artistic Director Peter Farbridge and/or Artistic Co-Producer can present and current concrete artistic developments with sensory creation.
The Sensory Machine culminates in an immersive, interactive, site specific ambulatory multidisciplinary performance. The work is being developed with Scènes interactives technologiques and artists working from their unique sensory perspectives of gender, neurodiverse, and (dis)ability identities. We employ technological devices (eg. volumetric video, immersive sound, vibration, piezo sensors) to support the communication of the human senses to emerge their different lived experiences. Audiences will experience this journey guided by sensory stimuli—including sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste—that are enhanced through innovative multimedia technologies. For example, we will explore vibration to journey between the two segments featuring Connor Yuzwenko- Martin (Deaf artist) and Kassel (playwright with Parkinson’s Disease). By using vibrating transducers, we can intertwine Connor and Thierry’s work through a multisensory dramaturgy; vibration is specific to their explorations of, respectively, Deaf-Blind mobility and bodily tremors. We are not subject to the technology, or treating it as an interesting toy, but rather we see a great potential in the convergence of these artists’ atypical artistic expressions with the technological innovations that can bring forth the potential of the aesthetics of accessibility.
Keywords: dramaturgy, performance, theatre, art, accessibility

Devon Baur (Theatre and Performance Studies, UCLA, USA)

What Lies Below: Senses, Technology, and Multi-species Communication

As humans, our world view is formed by the limits of our umwelt (or sensory bubble). Many (or perhaps most) of the multi-species communication systems on Earth slip outside of the realm of our sensorium. If we ever hope to learn to communicate with aliens from another galaxy, we must first learn to “listen” to the subtle whisperings on this planet. Our reliance on the audio-visual has become so entrenched that pulses of information often slither between us, unnoticed. Perhaps one of the greatest sources for cross-species communication is right under our noses. This paper considers smell as a rich and vibrant avenue for cross-species transmissions. Casting aside the Western hierarchy of the senses, it invites us to linger in the invisible pathways of buzzing matter and considers smell as an integral source of knowledge production. To illuminate these overlooked exchanges, the paper turns to artistic case studies. Most notably, “One Tree ID” by Agnes Meyer- Brandis, in which the artist recreates the volatile organic compounds of a specific tree and transforms it into a perfume. The spectator wears the perfume and sits with the tree, inviting an invisible exchange beyond the realm of the human sensorium. Through a post-human analysis the paper draws on Stacy Alaimo, Astrid Neimanis, Anna Tsing and Donna Harraway to consider how unseen olfactory pathways can make kin; and how the act of smelling is nuanced, complex and trans- corporeal. Lower level senses like olfaction are often cast aside, but if we take pause and wade through them we might open up possibilities for communication in languages that are more-than- human.
Keywords: Olfaction, non-human, technology, performance, STS