Integrating art into bodily interactions : exploring digital art in HCI design to foster somaesthetic experiences

Abstract

My interdisciplinary doctoral research of this thesis explored how interaction design – with a combination of digital art, body-centred practice and biophysical sensing technology – cultivates self-awareness and self-reflection to foster somaesthetic experiences in everyday walking. My research followed a Research through Design (RtD) approach to provide design artefacts as examples of research in the expanded territory of Somaesthetic Design, technology-enhanced body-centred practices and digital art applied in interaction design. Background research included a critical review of Affective Computing, the concept of somaesthetic experience, existing body-centred practices (e.g. mindfulness and deep listening), HCI designs for somaesthetic experiences, and interactive digital art applications (using biophysical data as input) to express bodily activities. In methodological terms the research could be summarized as a process of ‘making design theories’ (Redström, 2017) that draws upon a Research through Design (RtD) approach. The whole research process could be described with a ‘bucket’ model in making design theories (Redström, 2017): identified initial design space as the initial ‘bucket’; derived the first design artefact ‘Ambient Walk’ as a ‘fact’ to represent the initial design space and the cause of transitioning, re-accenting process from mindfulness to ‘adding a sixth-sense’ (i.e. to extend the initial ‘bucket’); the making of second design artefact ‘Hearing the Hidden’ as a ‘fact’ to represent the re-accented research rationale in designing for somaesthetic experience by ‘adding a sixth sense’. I followed a qualitative approach to evaluate individual user feedbacks on enhancing somaesthetic experiences, the aspects to be considered in designing for experiences, and how my design process contributed to refining design for experiences. At the end of this thesis, I discuss the findings from the two practical projects regarding the somaesthetic experiences that have been provoked during users’ engagement with ‘Ambient Walk’ and ‘Hearing the Hidden’; the inclusion of bodily interactions with surroundings in somaesthetic design; the use of ‘provotypes’ in experience-centred design practices; and the benefit of integrating digital art into technology for body-centred practices.