A project developed by Scottish think tank Distance Lab gives partners a tool for exploring art, intimacy, and the body’s relation to space.  The interactive installation Mutsugoto rigs participants with touch-sensitive rings keyed to cameras and projectors.  The movements of one partner’s hands across his or her body project shifting bands of light onto the other, whose responses project shimmering lights across the miles onto the first.  The participants can see one another’s bodies and reactions, and the light beams change color and form when they cross.

The project transcends text-based flirting–which Mutsugoto’s creators describe as “generic interfaces in business-like venues” and historically has led to crass, detached fantasies–and the too-graphic “sexting” of cell phone cameras.  Giving partners a way to express physical love while separated, the effort stands as both collaborative media art and highly stylized sex.  Touted as “a different kind of synchronous communication that leverages the emotional quality of physical gesture,” the system raises questions about the nature of intimacy and makes partners more aware of the shifting balance of sexual and intellectual attraction.  Mutsugoto also provides an opportunity to explore the spatial limits of the body.  While highlighting the body’s connection to creativity and playfulness, the project uses light to simulate an extended form of touch.  This leads to a dynamic tension as the participant’s sphere of awareness is expanded over distance while simultaneously being focused closely on another lone individual.

Distance Lab plans to present Musogoto at the Edinburgh Art Festival in August 2009.