What happens when the line between a human performer and a machine blurs on stage? We are presenting this work at the Augmented Humans conference 2026 in Okinawa, and it is one of those projects that keeps surprising us.
The setup: an artist wears sensors and controls a robotic arm, turning their own body into a live audio-visual mixer. Their movements, their physiological signals, all of it feeds into the sound and visuals in real time. The performer becomes something in between – not quite human soloist, not quite machine, but a hybrid that makes you question who or what is actually creating the art.
We want to know what this does to the people watching. So we put PPG, EDA, and motion sensors on 23 audience members, hand out questionnaires, and sit down with them for interviews afterwards. The physiological data tells one story: skin conductance goes up, heart rates shift, bodies move in sync with key moments on stage. People are clearly engaged on a physical level. But when we talk to them, many say they feel confused. They are moved, but they struggle to say why.
That disconnect is the core finding, and honestly, we think it is the most exciting part. Your body can be deeply engaged with a performance even when your mind hasn’t caught up yet. For anyone working at the intersection of art and technology, this is a good reminder that the body often understands things before the brain does.
Contributors
The performance studied in this work is KYŌSHIN – Sonic Resonance: Event for Muscles, Heartbeat and Breath.
- Sensing and hardware design: George Chernyshov
- Sound artist: Danny Hynds
- Robot designer: Marina Nakagawa
- Video artist and editor: Lucas Ogasawara
- Videographer assistant: Paing Sett Hein
- Headset and graphics designer: Michael Pogorzhelskiy
- Engineer: Juling Li
- Research supervisors: Kouta Minamizawa, Kai Kunze
- Research supporters: Giulia Barbareschi, Minyang Xu, Peng Danyang
- Production and management: Yoko Negami, Akane Kanagawa (Living Together Co)
- Organiser: Keio University Graduate School of Media Design
- Co-organiser: Project Cybernetic Being
- Technical co-operators: Geist (KMD), Embodied Media (KMD)
- Partner: Civic Creative Base Tokyo
Era: GEIST lab, Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University (2015 to 2026).
Source: kaikunze.de (25 February 2026).