Nowadays, we live in a visually dominated culture, and other senses are stimulated less and less. A lot of handmade work is replaced by machines and computers, and there is a possibility to suppress our sensory realms even more. Considering the fact that our only interaction with the external world is through our five senses, this pathology of senses can give today‘s technological age problems such as experiences of alienation, detachment, and solitude.
THE PRIMACY OF THE HAPTIC REALM
Ashley-Montagu, the American anthropologist, based on medical evidence, confirms the relevancy of the tactile domain. ‘’The skin is the oldest and the most sensitive of our organs, our first medium of communication, and our most efficient protector. Even the transparent cornea of the eye is overlain by a layer of modified skin’’. Interestingly enough, the sense of touch is the very first sense that develops in the embryo.
Juhani Pallasmaa, one of Finland’s most distinguished architects and architectural theorists, had a deep interest in the role of the body and the senses in holistic architecture. In his book ‘’The Eyes Of The Skin’’, he states that ‘’all of our senses, including vision, are extensions of a tactile sense’’. This is reflected in the example of the receptors that need to ‘’be touched’’ first so that they could bring the information to the brain. Let’s give the example of auditory perception. The sound waves go through the ear canal where they need to hit and ‘’touch’’ the auditory receptors.
Visual observation is usually confirmed by our touch. Caravaggio, The Incredulity Of Saint Thomas
In heightened emotional states and deep thought, vision is usually repressed. René Magritte, The Lovers
The eye is the organ of distance and separation, where touch is the sense of nearness, intimacy, and affection.
Following Pallasmaa’s observations, the need to engage all of our senses is becoming increasingly evident. Unfortunately, there is a consequent disappearance of sensory qualities from art, architecture, and design. As Pallasmaa points out, ‘’the inhumanity of contemporary architecture and cities can be understood as a consequence of the negligence of the body and the senses, and the imbalance in our sensory system’’. When we use only the vision, we are constantly in an observational mode. It can create a distance between us and the external world. Indeed, sight is the only sense that makes us ‘’insignificant’’ speculators. This is one of the reasons why the urban settings and architecture of our time tend to make us feel like outsiders. For instance, hospitals and airports are not providing us with rootedness in the world, in comparison with the emotional engagement of natural and historical settings.
Suppression of the sensory realms
Due to the consequent disappearance of sensory and sensorial qualities from the world we are living in (art, architecture, design, technology), there is an idea of under-stimulation of our sensory system in the next few decades. Since the technology will be voice-operated, there will be a possibility to suppress our sensory realms even more in the future.
“Alienation from senses led to emotional detachment. When we experience them less and less, we become unmoved and cold”
Analog values
The interesting contradiction about the trends in the digital world (augmented and virtual reality in particular) is the fact that their advancements are dependent on touch-based feedback that could enrich the ‘’reality’’ of the experience. Another example of the human inclination towards something tactile is printed books. Even though there was a lot of prognosis about the death of print, there was also news about the decline of e-book sales. In the sphere of design, there is a movement towards tactility, from the product to interior design. There is a special need in the technology-based environment to bring feel and value that comes from analog, and focus upon uniquely tactile qualities. It is increasingly important that the digital world can keep up and adopt the new need for tactile stimulation. We will be seeing a manifestation of this call for something real in the hi-tech textures, warm interfaces, more human and less perfect digital haptic interactions.