Network Touch
by Galen Scorer
At the moment of touch we give reference to our self and to our surrounding. Touch not only spatially orients us but also symbolically orients ourselves to another. The idea of a Network Touch plays on the possibilities and impossibilities of this moment in cyberspace where two people try and make a haptic connection.

The video streams of two cameras from two distant locations are stitched together to form a single image. Using customized software, these images appear to join seamlessly. In both locations a users hand enters into the video space. As they reach their hand into the space they also see the hand of someone else reaching out to touch their hand. As the two hands move closer together and finally make contact, sounds and words are triggered signifying that moment of contact. The two participants playfully ‘touch’ and create music off of each other, poetically giving a new form and understanding to reference.