394 © 2020 ISAST ︲ Leonardo, Vol. 53, No. 4, pp. 394–400, 2020 doi: 10.1162/LEON_a_01925 Body RemiXer: Extending Bodies to Stimulate Social Connection in an Immersive Installation John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, Bernhard E. Riecke and Patrick Pennefather John Desnoyers-Stewart Artist/Researcher Simon Fraser University 250 - 13450 102 Ave Surrey, BC V3T 0A3, Canada desnoyer@sfu.ca Ekaterina R. Stepanova Cognitive Scientist Simon Fraser University 250 - 13450 102 Ave Surrey, BC V3T 0A3, Canada katerina_stepanova@sfu.ca Bernhard E. Riecke Virtual Experience Researcher Simon Fraser University 250 - 13450 102 Ave Surrey, BC V3T 0A3, Canada b_r@sfu.ca Patrick Pennefather Experience Designer/ Researcher University of British Columbia 6354 Crescent Rd Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2 Canada patrick.pennefather@ubc.ca See www.mitpressjournals .org/toc/leon/53/4 for supplemental fles associated with this issue. ABSTRACT Body RemiXer is a mixed reality installation that connects immersants across the virtual/actual divide through emergent tactility and abstract embodiment. Using a virtual reality headset, Kinect and projections, the installation explores the potential of immersive technology to create copresent experiences that foster intercorporeal relationships between immersants wearing a headset and those using the projections. Immersants’ bodies are at the center of the installation, activated as a site for social exchange. Body RemiXer has been exhibited at an art festival and at several smaller events. The authors’ observations during these exhibits reveal Body RemiXer’s capacity to disrupt social norms and stimulate new connections. Body RemiXer (2019) is an immersive mixed reality installation (Fig. 1) that connects immersants by transforming and expanding upon their bodies and movements. Tis mixed reality (MR) experience uses body tracking, projections and a virtual reality (VR) headset (Fig. 2) to create a multilayered experience that transcends the virtual/actual divide. Te projections act as mirrors, providing access to the virtual space, while the experience is grounded in the actual copresence of immersants’ bodies. We have exhibited the installation at the Carnival of Mixed Realities and at several smaller events in Vancouver, Canada. Our observations of participants interacting with the installation reveal the capacity of colocated experiences to stimulate intercorporeality by mediating social spaces through embodied interactions. As immersants enter the installation, they are tracked by a Kinect, which transforms their bodies into clouds of particles on the projection screens forming three-dimensional silhouettes that follow their movements. Body RemiXer invites immersants to engage in expressive movements and tactile interactions with one another that are made socially acceptable through the context of the installation. By touching hands with other participants, immersants connect their virtual auras through a steady exchange of particles, blurring the boundaries between them. Tis newly established connection manifests as a drumbeat that gets louder when they move together. Fig. 1. Composite image of several people interacting with Body RemiXer. (Composite by John Desnoyers-Stewart. Original photos © Andreas Psaltis, 2019.) Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01925 by guest on 26 September 2021