Tech Project

Description of the challenges faced by the Tech Project

We provide access to specialized ICT technologies used and developed to recognizing nonsymbolic behavioral signals and their meaning (as described in Technical Description): kinects, gesture recognition solutions, eye trackers, equipment of PSNC proffesional sound recording and voice recognition studio, set of e-health sensors, such as EEG, pressure, heart rate etc. The possible challenges that should be considered are new scenarios of interaction with PMLD people, including an attempt to create a language that allows them to contact the outside world with the help of or in response to the means of artistic expression: composition, creation, sound or visual stimuli.

Brief description of technology

The residency will be hosted by telemedicine, e-health and ICT integration with the surroundings laboratories of PSNC, Poznan, Poland. There are several installations and devices that could be used in the process of collaboration between artists and research groups. The installations provided by PSNC are: - gesture recognition (including kinect, leap motion and some specialized solutions developed during the project) - facial expression recognition (including eye tracking); - vocalization recognition (including full equipment of PSNC proffesional sound recording and voice recognition studio) - unobtrusive physiological parameters monitoring (including set of e-health sensors, such as EEG, pressure, heart rate etc.)

What the project is looking to gain from the collaboration and what kind of artist would be suitable

The essential objective for collaboration between the project and artists involved in STARTS is to create the other way, parallel approach to the research scenarios used in the project, which will extend the horizon of further work on communication with PMLD people. The goal is to enable PMLD people to be creators of novel forms of art, thanks to the use of the Insension novel user interface and/or other related technologies. We count on cooperation with artists open to new challenges, seeking not only the possibility of expression through art, but also searching for new forms of communication language through art-driven stimuli: color, shape, image, music. Parallel to the research on standard gestures and non-verbal communication with PMLD people, we want to look for ways to find a way to reach them through artistic expression, possibly also - involving people seemingly excluded from society - directly into the creative process.

Resources available to the artist

PSNC labs are located in two buildings in Poznan: first, new complex near Poznan city center, and second one, in a historic tenement house in the very center of Poznań. We provide office desk and easy access to all laboratories, high speed internet connection with possibility of streaming or establishing dedicated link, also dedicated storage and all associated devices mentioned in technical description. The building also has rooms for direct meetings with users of systems built as part of the project. The laboratories are serviced by qualified IT staff, providing assistance and consultation during the project.