Our life-size doll wants to be close to you. His facial expressions and internal lighting relate to your interaction with him. His belly pulses with red light. He wants you to touch it, and if you comply, he reacts, smiling and glowing with pleasure.

Humans are all lonely to some degree. The Internet and mass media are not satisfying our need for physical presence. We are deluded by the fact that we are "connected" to so many, when in fact we are only exchanging info, leaving us in dire need for real companionship. How does our perception of companionship change when the Internet and other types of media become intermediaries between us? What makes a person real to us? Our creation is our response to these questions.

This project is the next step in an exploration of human-like interactive art pieces. Using the semantic weight of the human form, we are asking questions about perception, emotion and interpersonal connections as they relate to contemporary social environments.

Additional Links:

SWA Project Blog
SWA Winter Show Photos
ITP Project Page