Intimate Transactions (2005-8)

A Dual Site Interactive Installation With Projections, Sound & Furniture. Intimate Transactions is a new form of telepresence-based interactive installation that allows two people in geographically separate spaces to interact simultaneously using only their bodies. Each participant used a physical interface called a ‘Bodyshelf’ and wore a sound vibration transmission device around their necks called a ‘haptic pendant’.  By gently moving their bodies on this ‘smart furniture’, they instigate ‘intimate transactions’, which influence an evolving ‘world’ created from digital imagery, multichannel sound and tactile feedback. This shared experience allows each participant to gradually develop a form of sensory intimacy with the other, despite the fact that they are geographically separated and cannot physically see or hear each other.

SHOWINGS:
16: Intimate Transactions is now held in the permanent collection of ZKM, Karlsruhe Germany.
15: Solo Exhibition. Albury Regional Gallery, NSW, Australia and Dubbo Regional Gallery, NSW, Australia, 18th Sept-18th Oct, 2009.
14: Solo Exhibition. Rockhampton Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia and Gympie Art Gallery,Queensland, Australia, 26th Feb-21st March, 2009.
13: Solo Exhibition. Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, Victoria, Australia and Frankston Arts Centre, Victoria, Australia, 11 Oct-26Nov, 2008.
12: Group Showing (Site 1), 28 Aug-27 Sept 2008, Experimental Art Foundation , Adelaide, South Australia & (Site 2), Wagga Wagga Regional Arts Gallery, NSW, Australia.
11: Group Exhibition (Site 1), Media Art China (An Olympics Cultural Festival Event), 10 June- 3 July, 2008. (Site 1) National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), No. 1 Wusi Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100010, P.R. China & (Site 2) The Imperial City Art Museum, Beijing. (+ Site 3 located at CalPoly University, California, USA for two hours per morning).
10: Solo Exhibition (Site 1), 15-22 July, 2006, Brisbane 2006 International Arts Festival, The Block, QUT CI Precinct, Brisbane, Australia & Solo Exhibition (Site 2), On Edge Arts Festival, KickArts at COCA (Cairns Centre For Contemporary Art), Cairns, Australia. 
9: Solo Exhibition (Site 1), 4-6 June, 2007, California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI), University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), Santa Barbara, USA & (Site 2), California Polytechnic State University, Architecture Complex, San Luis Obispo, California, USA. 
8: Dual Exhibition Sites at California Polytechnic State University, University Open Days, 18-22 April, 2007, San Luis Obispo, California, USA. 
7: Solo Exhibition (Site 1), 15-22 July, 2006, 2006 Brisbane International Arts Festival, The Block, QUT CI Precinct, Brisbane, Australia & Solo Exhibition (Site 2), On Edge Arts Festival, COCA (Cairns Centre For Contemporary Art), Cairns, Australia. 
6: Solo Exhibition (Site 1), 19-27 May, 2006, Artspace, Sydney, Australia & Solo Exhibition (Site 2), The Performance Space, Sydney, Australia. 
5: Solo Exhibition (Site 1), 12-23 November, 2005, The Institute For Contemporary Art (ICA), London, UK & Solo Exhibition (Site 2), BIOS, (New Synthesis of Urban Culture), Athens, Greece. 
4: Dual Exhibition Sites at Ars Electronica Festival, 1–19 September 2005, OK Centrum, CyberArts 2005 Exhibition, Linz, Austria. Curated by Genoveva Rueckert. 
3: Solo Exhibition (Site 1), 25 April–1 May, 2005 The Australian Centre For the Moving Image (ACMI), Melbourne, Australia & Transfigure/Body Exhibition (Site 2), The Block, QUT Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane, Australia.
2: Dual Exhibition Sites at B.Tween Festival, Digital Knowledge Exchange, 17–18 February, 2005, High Melton, South Yorkshire, UK.
1: Dual Exhibition Sites at The National Review of Live Art/New Territories Festival, 9–11 February, 2005.

TEAM: Keith Armstrong (Artistic Director Transmute Collective), with The Transmute Collective: Lisa O'Neill (Performance), Guy Webster (Sound), COLLABORATING WITH Zeljko Markov (Furniture/Interface), Stuart Lawson (3D), Marcos Caceres & Cameron Owen (Code), Ben Foley (Design), Pia Ednie-Brown & Inger Mewburn (Haptic design). (Full Credit List Here).

PARTNERS:
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Intimate Transactions was developed with support from ACID and the Performance Space Headspace Residency Program, and was premiered at New Moves International, National Review of Live Arts, Glasgow, Scotland. Dr. Keith Armstrong was a QUT Postdoctoral Fellow (2003-2005) based in the Faculty of Creative Industries Research and Application Centre and an Australia Council New Media Arts Fellow (2005-2007). In 2008 MAAP toured Intimate Transactions to 'Media Art China' in Beijing. Museums and Galleries Queensland then toured the work throughout Australia in 2008-10.

MORE: Intimate Transactions is a new form of telepresence-based interactive installation that allows two people in geographically separate spaces to interact simultaneously using only their bodies. Each participant used a physical interface called a ‘Bodyshelf’ and wore a sound vibration transmission device around their necks called a ‘haptic pendant’.  By gently moving their bodies on this ‘smart furniture’, they instigate ‘intimate transactions’, which influence an evolving ‘world’ created from digital imagery, multichannel sound and tactile feedback. This shared experience allows each participant to gradually develop a form of sensory intimacy with the other, despite the fact that they are geographically separated and cannot physically see or hear each other.

Participants can choose to act in different ways as they begin to understand how their actions affects everything within the environment AND the other participant - thereby focusing them on better understanding influences and relationships within the work's interlinking ecologies.

Intimate Transactions has been recognised internationally for its excellence and innovation within the genre of new media art. It was awarded an Honorary Mention in the 2005 Prix Ars Electronica Competition and was shown in 2005 at the Ars Electronic Festival, Austria, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and BIOS, Athens, Greece amongst numerous others. It was selected to represent Australia at the Olympic Arts Festival in Beijing in 2008, and has now been presented at over 22 curated venues including the University of California, Santa Barbara as part of an American residency. Intimate Transcactions was developed over four years with the support of two major research and development grants.