Susanna Hertrich & Shintaro Miyazaki
Sensorium of Animals
Susanna Hertrich (1973)
Shintaro Miyazaki (1980)
Susanna Hertrich: part-time lecturer & artist/designer
Shintaro Miyazaki: fulltime university professor
Susanna Hertrich:
Master in Design Interactions, Royal College of Art, London, 2008, (UK)
Diploma in Graphic Design, University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf, 1998, (DE) Shintaro Miyazaki:
Media Sciences, Music Sciences and Philosophy, Basel University, 2007
PhD in Media Theory/Media Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 2012, (DE)
Sensorium of Animals
2016–2019
2021–2022
Basel
SNSF – funded, practice-based design research, SNSF Nº.159849; Full Title: The Sensorium of Animals. Electroreception in Experimental and Historical Media and Design Research
Critical Media Lab, Academy of Art and Design Basel
Spatial installation containing: prototypes and props (antennae, electronic prototypes, fictional prototypes, a coverall suit, crystals, other items), short films, a printed book and two spoken poems (audio)
Various
Mixed media
What if we could feel the signals of our invisible information networks on our skin? • Susanna Hertrich and Shintaro Miyazaki linked electroreceptive elephant-nose fish to seemingly immaterial signal-based information technologies. As the latter remain hidden from human senses, they wanted to ask if one could construct an electroreceptive sense for humans and what kind of society this would lead to. • This interdisciplinary research combines media historical research, technological experiments, design fiction, short films and a publication. This work has been exhibited as an imaginary laboratory containing the products of their research: electronic prototypes that convert electromagnetic signals into tactile vibrations on the skin, fictional prototypes that served as props in the short films, a collection of books, curious artefacts, ideas, notes and tools. A chalk diagram on the wall gives an overview of the research. The publication is a play of fact and fiction containing a poem, a science-fiction story and scientific text.