TOUCH

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Through touch, I am constantly "in touch" with that which surrounds me. But also in these states it is difficult to say just where I end and the world begins.

— Don Idhe

We paw, swipe, scroll, stroke, and peck our phones: the screen’s slippery, oleophobic surface offering so little resistance as to be imperceptible, a completely transparent interface. The glass of our phone’s screen is smooth and silent: paper seems shockingly rough by comparison. This project presents approximately 800 recordings of different people touching my website through their phones as well as recordings of the nearly inaudible sounds our fingers make as they thud against the screen, hiss along its surface, and meatily-plop as a finger is lifted. The fingertip-traces you see here are a feedback loop of thought and action, one that couples intention, the sense of our body in space, fine motor movements, a cascade of servers and routers, and eventually me here in my studio.

Jeff Thompson Commissioned by SPACES