Intimate Aesthetics

Intimate Aesthetics is research into body-focused interactions and experiences that take place in artistic and other specialised contexts. Theories of embodied cognition and somaesthetics that recognise the somatic within consciousness and cognition underpin the research and creative practice.

This research stream is comprised of several projects:

• Luscious Apparatus: research into body-focused interaction and wearable, biofeedback technologies for interactive and live art contexts, informed by the Bodyweather performance methodology. Funded by The Australia Council for the Arts 2010.

• Thinking Through The Body: an investigation into aesthetic experience, interactive art and somatic bodywork. Http: thinkingthroughthebody.net
• The Felt Sense Project: PhD candidate Claudia Nunez-Pacheco (Chile) investigated the application of Gendlin's Focusing technique from psychotherapy in well-being scenarios supported by tangible objects, wearable garments and other tools for amplifying perception. Recipient of Design Research Society Student Research Bursary 2015. http://thefeltsenseproject.wordpress.com/
• Narcissus Brainwave: MPhil candidate Youngdong Kim (Korea) investigated the creation of artistic visualisation of the brainwaves of meditators
  
• Walking Meditation: PhD candidate Karen Cochrane (Canada) investigated how to design interactive soundscapes modulated by EEG data to support the rhythms of walking and breathing. Phenomenologically inspired methods for eliciting the in-the-moment first-person experience of practising meditation were developed.