Cell Space

Overview

"Cell Space" is an interactive art experience that integrates collocated augmented reality, neurofeedback, and contact improvisation, challenging the conventional boundaries between audience and performer, and blending the physical with the virtual, organic with technological. Inspired by McLuhan's concept of media as an extension of the human body and Rowland's notion of extended internal awareness, alongside The AR Art Manifesto's vision of 'we becoming the Media,' this project reimagines participants as dynamic cells of a shared bio-digital ecosystem within the built environment. This immersive experience expands the concept of intercorporeality, moving beyond mere physical interaction to a shared bio-digital domain, thereby fostering a deeply interconnected environment of Human-Machine-Space Symbiosis. The paper contributes to the discourse on immersive and interactive performance art by presenting a systematic approach for the development of such integrative artworks, offering insights for future artistic inquiries. Ultimately, "Cell Space" serves as a reflective mirror to the potential futures of our increasingly interconnected existence, encouraging participants to explore a transformative landscape that resonates with the complex interplay between their physical and digital identities and their surroundings.

Becoming a cell

Participants join a shared field of translucent cells that moves with their bodies. A leading dancer introduces contact improvisation through a duet: maintaining a rolling or sliding point of contact, exploring weight, and responding to another person's movement. As others enter, the field develops into a collective performance.

The score follows a cell's life cycle. Opening / Division introduces contact and new participants; Developing / Differentiation allows each dancer's cell to take on changing visual qualities; Closing / Death gradually fades and dissolves the structures, making space for slowing down and reflecting on the encounter. The sequence gives the installation a temporal shape while leaving the dancers' movements open to improvisation.

Bodies, signals, and shared space

The implementation described in our SIGGRAPH 2024 art paper combines Unity, iPhone 15 Pro devices, HoloKit X viewers, and Flowtime headbands. Dancers' positions become the centres of weighted three-dimensional Voronoi cells. Connections between neighbouring cells expose the changing relationships within the group.

Heart-rate and EEG-derived indicators modulate the visual field. The system maps the provider's “pressure” indicator to cell weight, “attention” to frame brightness, and “relaxation” to a blue-to-red colour scale; pulsation follows heart rate. These are designed mappings from processed biosignals, rather than direct readings of a person's feelings or intentions. They give participants material to notice and interpret together.

A local host–client network synchronizes positions and virtual content using the InstantCopresence framework. Spatial synchronization does not require an internet connection; the paper's neurofeedback pipeline separately uses Flowtime's cloud processing to return indicators. This distinction matters when reconstructing the installation.

Different ways to participate

Immersants wear HoloKit and biosensors to take part in the dance. Spectators can view the same augmented scene through a headset or handheld phone and move into the performance. A monitor provides a third-person view for bystanders without a device. These roles let the work accommodate different degrees of bodily and technical participation.

Publications

Rem RunGu Lin, Botao Amber Hu, Koo Yongen Ke, Wei Wu, and Kang Zhang. 2024. Cell Space: Augmented Awareness of Intercorporeality. Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, 7(4), Article 53, 10 pages. SIGGRAPH 2024 Art Papers. Paper.

Credits

Concept Designer: Rem RunGu Lin

Interaction Engineer: Botao Amber Hu

Interaction Designer: Botao Amber Hu

Project contributors: Rem RunGu Lin, Botao Amber Hu

Project at Reality Design Lab