Touchy

Eric Siu's performance is all about touching. The artist is investigating the state of physical closeness in a modern society dominated by internet communication. By putting on a specially designed helmet that covers his eyes, Siu takes on a new blind identity named Touchy. Spectators can touch his skin and a special ball can make Touchy see. Using simple technology, physical contact closes an electrical circuit, activating a device that causes apertures in the helmet to open, revealing Touchy's eyes. After 10 seconds of continuous touching, a camera in the helmet takes a photo, which is displayed on a screen at the back of the helmet, and later published on the internet. Siu's performance was one of two ex aequo winners of the main WRO 2013 award.

In April and May DailyArt, in collaboration with the WRO Art Center, will be featuring prizewinning works from the 2011 and 2013 editions of the WRO Media Art Biennale in Wrocław, Poland. The presentation is part of the WRO Active Art Archive, and it serves as a lead-in to this year's WRO Biennale, entitled Test Exposure, which opens May 13th-17th, 2015. This presentation of media art – videos, installations, media performances – is an unprecedented event in app history. It's impossible to present these pieces through single images, so each photo is accompanied by a link containing useful articles, sometimes with statements from the artists as well. Earphones will be useful!