On March 30th, 2024 I participated in a conversation around art making and designing under the lens of neurodivergence. The program, ‘Not to be Senseless’, curated by Maria Oosterveen, is a collaboration between iii and Journey Through the Senses. Not to be Senseless creates a context where researchers and practitioners of various fields come together to share their take on neurodivergencies such as synaesthesia, savantism and autism. The series opens new perspectives by recognising the different ways we make sense of the world. This particular edition was dedicated to the multifaceted experience of touch and I decided to focus on my experiments with pressure.

Years ago I started making inflatables to explore the tactile dimension of these large bodies of air that once filled seemed to acquire a life of their own. Their motion and behavior are not really predictable and their ever morphing shapes turn them into beasts, at once brutal and gentle.
I wanted to feel what it does to move in a thick, viscous space occupied by them. I wanted them to occupy all interstices of my body, to support me, to hinder my motion and to embrace me.
They bounce, they plop, they touch surfaces like they are kissing them, with tender pressure.

I shared my experiments on the sensation of pressure as an instance of tactility. Research has shown how controlled pressure over one’s body can provoke the release of oxytocyn, a hormone related to relaxation and human bonding. I wanted to explore this notion through my objects. By entering in contact with inflatable objects that envelop the body, one can experience their entire body’s surface being touched and gently pressed, which leads to a spontaneous loosening up and relishing. I brought three different objects to be experienced by the public, after the artist talks. The event also included works by Laura A. Dima and a lecture by designer Jenny Konrad on tactile self stimulation and the role it plays in neurodivergency. 

“Society is still curbed in its knowledge and acceptance of neurodivergencies, with neurodivergent individuals often seen as ‘difficult’. This situation makes it important to create a moment where neurodivergencies get a place to be seen and respected. To show that neurodivergencies are a strength that show us our world in a different light.” – Maria Oosterveen

With thanks to Maria Oosterveen, iii, Mike Rijnierse and Journey Through the Senses. Journey Through The Senses explores and celebrates the plurality of sensory experience through the lens of art, performance, science, technology, and interactive installations. Read more on: www.journeythroughthesenses.org