NRS: Historical Background

“To begin with, instruments like the telescope and microscope were extending man’s perceptual powers, but along with such indirect access came doubts about the reliability of what one seemed to see by means of such prostheses.”

Telepistemology: Decartes’ Last Stand[1]

The Neuroprosthetic Research System (NRS) operates in stark contrast to the virtual concerns of “cyber theory” of the last few decades and Stelarc’s infamous notion of the body obsolete.  Rather than a turning away from the body characterized by the immersive VR environments and quite simply a distinction between an often anonymous digital space and the material world, NRS examines the tactile space opened by interactive, immersive artworks of the mid 20th century, with particular focus on the gestural sensuality of artists Lygia Clark and Rebecca Horn, while harnessing contemporary technical capabilities.  NRS seeks to explore the extension and enhancement of the body, rather than it’s replacement, in particular in relation to gesture both locally and at a distance.  

“De-emphasizing visuality, Clark and Oiticica centered their work on the body, exploring haptic space through tactile, auditory, olfactory and kinetic propositions. Their contributions to contemporary art are relevant not only because of their original development in the context of Brazilian art, but also because of the unique universal interactive vocabularies they created and explored with their manipulable objects, immersive environments and experiential propositions based on wearable works.”[2]

By establishing a system that operates as a series functional instruments of prosthetic enhancement that are capable of cybernetic output and input in the realm of poetic engagement with gesture many of the telepistemological concerns newly raised by the establishment of networked ecosystems can be explored with tactile and haptic actions.

[1] Goldberg, Ken. 2000. The robot in the garden : Telerobotics and telepistemology in the age of the internet. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 

[2] Osthoff, Simone. 1997. Lygia clark and helio oiticica: A legacy of interactivity and participation for a telematic future. Leonardo Leonardo 30 (4): 279-89.