Eric Sui, 'Touchy'

         Touchy, is an artwork of Eric Siu, which is a human camera (the person wearing the device). Touchy is blind most of the time until somebody touch his body. When a human contact is maintained for 10 seconds, the front facing camera captures an image, which is displayed on the back facing screen for the user to access. No touch, he is blind. Touch him, he can see.

How does the work use technology to extend or change the abilities of the human body? 

       This project focuses on the relationship of giving and receiving by a human-acted-camera. To make possible a human camera, the artist transposes the functions of a camera to a wear-able helmet device which comprised of a pair of automated shutters, a functioning camera and an interactive screen. the sight of Touchy is blocked by the shutters. Only someone touching on Touchy will activate opening and allow it to see automatically. Then touchy will capture the vision and record the beauty of life. Through human interaction, it blurs the boundary between machine and human. 


What issues does Touchy raise about?

       Touchy aims at alleviating social anxiety by creating joyful interactions. Actually,  it is common for humans to avoid sharing social space and interacting with strangers.  I think one of the issues that Touchy wanted to bring out is related to the 'Otaku' culture in Japan.  'Otaku' refers to someone rejecting to communicate and interact with others. Touchy criticizes this phenomenon. So it  transforms the human being into a social device: a camera as a solution to the issue. As a result, it investigates how such a device improves social life, and turn into a device that willing to share memories and enjoyment with other people.

Source from: http://touchtouchy.com/