Ernestine Daubner's paper Art, (bio)technology & (dis)ability: Challenges of an Expanding Body/Mind reflects on expanding limits of the disabled body or mind as a result of art, innovation and research. One example is the project vOICe where a visually impaired person can use his ears to see using cross-modal interaction. An interesting point for the future might also be how you distinguish the virtual from the physical if at all possible.

 

As for artistic developments in this area several examples where given, i.e. David Rokeby The Very Nervous System is a video movement capturing system that translates the movement into visual or audio feedback thus turning the body into a paintbrush or an instrument. An other example, Messa di Voce (placing the voice) by Golan Levin, Zaxharey Lieberman, Jaap Blonk and Joan La Barbara is concerned with making the human voice more visible using motion tracking and microphones to integrate performers into ambience consisting of virtual sound objects. In Jill Scot’s e-skin, a persons skin is able to acquire and process information that rivals our senses such as sights and hearing in so the work operates like a mediated stage for communication between non-sighted and sighted. Also some more works dealing with implants and tissue engineering were briefly mentioned.

Daubner also offered a reflection on the conference name in relation to her talk.