Bridging virtual space
embodied exercise in virtual space

A virtual experience based on neuroscience research, where the user established novel spatial relations between two points defined by their perceived embodiment independently from the digital code, only using their perceived virtual embodiment.

More about the project︎︎︎

Based on the procedures of a neuroscience experiment conducted at the neuroscience lab at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, the participating audience members are transferring their perceived embodiment into virtual bodies in virtual reality.

The VR headset renders a body standing in front of the participant . The participant sees a ball touching the shoulder of the body. When they see the touch they feel a touch on their shoulder. The participant is receiving conflicting mulitsensory information. They feel the touches they see on a virtual body.

The life-long experience of seeing our own body from a first-person perspective is disrupted. Suddenly the participants see their body from a third-person perspective.  Even those that did not perceive the body as their own reported that they felt the ball had impact on their body. They were establishing a connection between two points defined by their embodiment - the point from which they were observing the scene and the point where they saw the body. It was as if the two points were one duplicated point. What was happening in one of them was happening in the other one as well. Independently from the way the space is coded the two points become one through the embodied presence of the participant. It is as if the space folded in two so the two points met, no matter how distant they are. The virtual embodiment channels the connection.