To this end, this program establishes “Empowerment Informatics” as a new branch of informatics that supplements and extends human functions and enables technology to work in harmony with people.

Credits

Curator: Aki Yamada
http://www.emp.tsukuba.ac.jp/

Walkaholic

Minatsu Sugimoto (JP)

Walkaholic is a system that turns people into world-changing power generators. Walkaholic proposes a wearable harvesting interface, attachable at the ankle, which also stimulates walking. If everyone starts to generate energy by natural behavior such as walking it could be earth-shattering.

Escaping Chair

Minatsu Sugimoto (JP)

The Escaping Chair is a furniture shaped device that tries to escape from people nearby in order to prevent them from sitting down. Although this device is a machine with a simple function, without any will, we expect that the user will feel a semblance of will in the device through their interaction with it, and treat it as another “person”.
Takeshi Oozu, Aki Yamada, Hiroo Iwata

Life in the Space Age: Experiments of Art and Technology in Zero-G

Alberto Boem (IT)

In 2016 the Zero-G art project was launched to investigate possible creative scenarios about human life in outer space. Eight experiments that have been performed during a parabolic (zero-gravity) flight are presented. Through this project, the group aims to open space research to the society by showing its creative potential.

Artist group: Prof. Takuro Osaka (coordinator), Alberto Boem, John Brumley, Karlos Ishac, Jun Nishida, Takeshi Oozu, Rintaro Takashima, Hikaru Takatori, Tadayuki Tone

Supported by Japan Space Forum, Diamond Air Service Japan, JAXA—Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Echolocation Headphones

Aisen Caro Chacin (US/ES/VE)

The Echolocation Headphones are a pair of blinding goggles that emit a focused sound beam aiding spatial navigation by acoustic reflection. The directional sound coming from the headphones gives the user an audible focal point of reflection, similar to the focal point of vision.

Supported by EMP

Synapse is a multi-material 3D-printed helmet that moves and illuminates according to the wearer’s brain activity, while Bodyscape is a 3D-printed top that tracks human bodily movement using a gyroscope linked to LED lighting.

Credits

Synapse
Designer: Behnaz Farahi
Acknowledgements: Pier9 / Autodesk with special thanks to Paolo Salvagione
Director of photography: Nicolas Cambier
Photographer: Mitchell Strum

Bodyscape
Designer: Behnaz Farahi
Photographer: Kyle Smithers
Acknowledgements: USC, Media Art and Practices with special thanks to Samir Ghosh