[IN’STIŊKT]: A Multisensory Sculpture

For a course at the Faculty of Design‘s Interactive Media department of the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, students were to provide an interactive presentation of data with the help of digital techniques. The aim was to present the content in such a way that it could be easily understood by the viewer and remain memorable for as long as possible.

Celina Hank and Teresa Wimbauer designed an interactive installation and a distinctive sculpture that addressed the topic of “Horrors in our society”. Under the name [in‘stiŋkt], it was intended to convey these facts in a surprising manner and at the same time draw attention to serious problems in our society.

The students used visual, auditory and olfactory stimuli to present viewers with various issues arising from the topic of horror. By listening and sniffing hoses, the prepared information and the associated strong emotions were conveyed as a multisensory experience. It was a new and unusual form of interaction within a construct that was imposing and had an organic effect at the same time

Users could choose between five themes. After they had placed a designated cork on a stele, they received auditory and olfactory information through the hose – and insights into a world that is getting beyond us and “stinks to high heaven”. Accompanying flyers – in the form of sick bags – offered additional content.

The sculpture consisted of the hose construct with a built-in soundbox, 3D-printed inserts in the segments containing the odorants, corks with NFC tags, an NFC reader and Arduino in the stele, a potentiometer and a projection and it was programmed in processing. The project was implemented fully functionally and presented during the semester exhibition.