[ I Miss Your Touch ] – Staying Connected During COVID and Beyond
Betty Sargeant PluginHUMAN
[ i miss your touch ] transports two people who are in seperate locations into a shared virtual environment. This unique online space launched in March 2020 as a rapid response to pandemic conditions. This award-winning interactive video artwork helps people maintain meaningful social and physical connections with each other, and provides a personalised art experience. [ i miss your touch ] is a live collaboration between the participants and PluginHUMAN (Dr Betty Sargeant and Justin Dwyer, the artists). The artwork responds to people’s movements. PluginHUMAN affect, in real-time, live video streams from participants’ webcams. People can instantly see the creative effects of their movements and interactions. They can also experience virtual touch. [ i miss your touch ] makes people feel as if they are together in one space. It allows friends, who are in separate locations, to dance, to virtually hug and to interact in a shared online environment. During 2020, many people have been without physical contact with others due to pandemic lockdown and physical distancing rules. [ i miss your touch ] provides a way to maintain meaningful connections with others and meaningful engagement with art during this unprecedented global situation. Participants don’t need specialist equipment of software, there are no logins or passwords. People use their computer webcam and internet; they enter their unique URL and are instantly transported into the [ i miss your touch ] experience. This ephemeral artwork is freely accessible to broad audiences.