The ‘Inter-Skin’ Project (1994) by Stahl Stenslie.

Norwegian born media artist, Stahl Stenslie is recognised for his work on VR environments, different interface technologies, and tools used in digital cultures. He is considered to be a pioneer in the field of Cybersex. He firstly gained recognition in this field with his tele-tactile communication system called CyberSM, in 1993. Stenslies’ fascination with cyber-erotica led to a more physically interactive method of sensual stimuli as displayed in the current work, The Inter-Skin Project.

The inter-skin project is specifically designed to incorporate the physical body as the mediator for communication. It is a method that enables a tangible, physical communication between two or more parties by means of a sensory outfit that is worn by users. Stenslie describes the project as “a sensual communication system design constituted by the transmission of touch and movement”. (Stenslie.net). In this particular display, two participants wear a specially designed tactile outfit that is capable of transmitting and receiving various multi sensory stimuli. The suits are linked via a computer network connection which allows the ‘inter-skin’ to transmit, exchange, and receive information. In other words, the wearer of one suit is able to feel the physical stimulus of the other wearer’s touch, and visa versa.

Stenslie suggests that the inter-skin project instigates a couple of interesting phenomena that is, autoerotic stimulation and the conception of a shared virtual body. The autoerotic stimulation in simple terms means that ones own sensual experience with their own skin becomes a simultaneous interface for the tactile communication with other users. Both voice and touch are utilised in the project. The shared virtual body, as Stenslie puts it, is created by the autoerotic stimulation. Its existence is constituted through the sensual experience of the participants. (Stenslie.net). Stenslie proposes that this transforms ones body into “a self referential object for the communication…by taking the concentration away from the object oriented (screen) towards the subject oriented (body)”. (Stenslie.net). This is clearly a major step towards immersive VR environments and tactile communication systems.

From here onwards, it would seem, the human perception of reality is that matters. According to Baudrillard, we accept reality via the hallucinatory resemblance of the real to itself. (Baudrillard, 1976). The virtual and the real are obviously melding together hence, the difference between interaction online and offline become ambiguous. Therefore, in this sense, a virtual reality may then become sufficient to satisfy the human perception of reality. “Reality will spontaneously destroy itself once it has reached a critical mass, allowing the ‘virtual’ to replace the world”. (Baudrillard, 1998).

Many people in the field of cyborg technology or ‘cyborgology’ such as Thad Starner, Chris Hables Gray, and Steve Mann are consciously working to expand the possibilities for human- machine integration. Artists such as Stenslie on the other hand, are shedding light on further possibilities of new media through their imaginative talents. McLuhan had asserted that new media innovations are an extension of some human faculty. Stenslie’s innovations have somewhat expounded on this statement dramatically in that, human faculties can now be transformed into its digital counterpart which then remains interactive with one’s own body.