Reach in a haptic art lab in Stockholm

Next week, one of the Reach sculptures will be exhibited in Stockholm, as part of Body of Work at Helix Art Space, on the 16th floor of Norra Tornen.

Body of Work is an event exploring haptic art ~ art that uses technology to turn your body into its material. The event is run by Jakob Skote, one of the founders of Untold Garden, and the artist Karo Hall.

Haptics, sensors, and other technologies give artists new ways of working with senses outside of vision and hearing. But touch is intimate and complex to work with. There is little terminology, few shared references, and no defined frameworks. How do we exhibit it? How do we fund it? What is our responsibility as artists when we work with the bodies of the audience?

This event is part workshop, part exhibition, part laboratory, bringing together artists in Sweden who shape this field and get a feel for what it is. Free of charge, all welcome.

Reach is a series of three interactive bronze sculptures that we created in 2024. As you touch one sculpture, your touch is transmitted to the others, visualised in AR and on a screen, and felt through vibrations deep inside the bronze. Through a combination of ancient craft with new technology, they form a collective experience based on our most intimate byproduct: body heat.

Bronze sculptures that help you feel another’s presence through the warmth of your hand, visualised through AR but felt through your heart. If Rothko was alive now this is how he might communicate his feelings.

Mark Hayes-Westall, FAD Magazine

This project was our first foray into art that works with touch. When exhibited at DIGITALISM at Saatchi Gallery, people returned to it again and again to embrace the sculptures and feel their slow rumbling. This became the inspiration to bring together artists working with this medium in Body of Work.

Technology is often alienating. In works like this it has the opposite effect: grounding, presencing, bringing us closer together. But somatic art tends to fall into health / SPA instrumentalism, reducing art to something that makes life easier, while good art often makes life more complex. When working with touch, can we create difficult, critical, and experimental experiences? What is the death metal equivalent of somatic art?

On Wednesday, 3rd June at 18:00, Jakob will host a conversation on these topics with curator Jonatan Habib Engqvist, art historian and nurse Susanne Fessé, artist Tim Bishop, and Assistant Professor in Interaction Design at KTH Laia Turmo Vidal. Event registration link:https://luma.com/0tmu1wlc

Helix Art Space is a new gallery on the 16th floor of Norra Tornen, run by Daniel Daboczy. We look forward to seeing you there next week.

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