Extract from notes on a day testing the Autoscope with Photographer Andrew Brooks. Images are Screenshots from VR Goggle perspective See also http://antonyhall.net/blog/wanderer-above-the-sea-of-fog/
Work in progress
Ideas, unrealised, and proposed.
Autoscope testing at studio
Autoscope prototype
Autoscope builds on laboratory-based simulations of out of body experiences; the portable device allows the participant to freely navigate the world, experiencing themselves in 3rd person, as part of the landscape via a live video feed to a head-mounted display. The visual mechanisms are important in this illusion, but tactile and sonic stimuli further strengthen the effects. Autoscopy can be described as the disembodied perception of seeing one own body from an elevated or distanced location outside the body. The phenomena of the ‘out of body experience’ during heightened states of heightened consciousness or near-death experience tend to have spiritual or shamanistic connotations, but in recent times science has done much to demystify this phenomenon, identifying the neural mechanisms responsible.
Action Intention Paradox
In this experiment, which is now renamed the 'Alien Hands Experiment' one participant [A] places their hands under a flat-screen monitor. They then see what seems to be their own hands under the screen when in fact these are someone else's hands [B] who is mirroring their actions. The effect can be quite uncanny especially if the appearance of the hand contrast with their own [in scale, age or colour. Participants work together to lead or mirror the movements of what appears to be their own hands under a screen. After a short time, participants experience strange sensations which oscillate between a loss of agency over their own hands and feeling agency over someone else's hands. Action Intention Paradox uses a
Mirror Gaze Box
A rapidly prototyped blackout box for the mirror gaze box, this is to create a dark space for the Mirror Gaze Experiment. Inside is an Infra Red LED spotlight and modified web camera. The camera films the participant in real time from behind a two-way mirror, as they experience the illusory effect of sensory deprivation. Mirror Gaze Box - prototype
IR Camera hack
For the Mirror Gaze experiment, I need a camera that works in darkness and can pick up Infrared light. Most webcams have an IR filter. Many such as this Logitech HD webcam have instruction online. Turns out mine was a slightly different model to this and meant that the entire thing needed dismantling and the camera module had to be unsoldered to get to the filter.
Stereoscopic camera experiments
Meta-Perceptual Rail
The meta-perceptual rail is a linear track along which mount mirror apertures and other props and stimuli can be mounted. It is used for meta-perceptual experiments, testing the limits of visual and meta-perceptual experience. It can be used as an introspective device to explore metaphysical and somaesthetic questions of our experiences and location self in relation to the physical body. 'Such rails are typically made of wood and designed to be very stiff. The rail normally begins with a chin rest followed by a graduated grove extending from this point. This allows other features such as holders for perceptual stimuli, filters, apertures, mirrors and cameras to be bolted down and precisely shifted along the length of the rail.'
Autoscope backpack
My alloy backpack arrived and has proved perfect for the job of supporting a laptop and a 2m long boom. As an object, It certainly has a vintage feel and a clear aesthetic reference to Roman Signer. this seems entirely appropriate, something about the strangeness of the endeavour as well as the metaphorical notions of escape and travelling through the imagination.
Tactile Anchoring Device prototype 2
The first film of the Tactile Anchoring Device in progress, showing the use of brushes and fans to generate the illusion of an invisible hand... https://youtu.be/vHaB6HBbQrs The system is based on an Arduino controls two sets of identical stimuli which move in synchronisation with each other [ servo motor, articulating solenoids, fans, lamps etc] Once the participant is experiencing the illusion, the operator or autonomous systems can trigger a ‘shock’ or threat stimuli. This is currently in the form of a solenoid which releases a heaved plum line weight which drops into the empty space. See the project page here. http://antonyhall.net/blogtactile-anchoring-device/
Galvanic sensors
Images of my first GSR [Galvanic Skin Response] sensor hacked from a toy lie detector circuit works well but currently looking for better DIY versions to use in experiments. More research on this to be posted soon.