In the Ars Electronica Futurelab Academy, experts from Ars Electronica’s research laboratory mentor students working at the nexus of art, technology and society at eminent international partner universities, opening a field of creative exchange across cultures and disciplines.

Radically different

During the 2015 Futurelab Academy programme with the Empowerment Informatics PhD programme at Japan’s University of Tsukuba, a leading research university with a visionary focus in human-centred cybernetics, two student teams have produced experimental projects that envision radically different interpretations of a Post-City Kit:

An ultrasonic glove

IrukaTact by Aisen Caro Chacin (US) and Takeshi Oozu (JP) is a submersible haptic search glove inspired by dolphin (= iruka) echolocation that assists the location of sunken objects after a flood, translating ultrasonic range finding data to haptic feedback using a novel approach. Conceived as a kit for emergency situations, it is open-source and can be constructed using readily available materials and digital fabrication processes.

A mirroring tablet

idMirror by Maša Jazbec (SI) and Floris Erich (NL) is an artistic project that investigates how social networks and emerging mobile technologies have forever changed the perception of human identity. The piece uses tablet computers’ inherent resemblance of mirrors to play with this identity by turning the visitors’ faces into the objects of unexpected manipulation.