Artists Statement

There is little chance for visually impaired people to engage in a world of culture that is so visually dominant. The aim of “Eskin 4 the visually impaired” is to create a trans-disciplinary platform to enable visually impaired participants to become performers alongside their own pre-recorded audio content and local ecological stories. In a workshop prior to ISEA 2018, seven visually challenged participants from the Mason Lincoln Special School in Umlazi, Durban will work with two Durban dancers and the Swiss-based media art group AIL Productions, under the direction of Jill Scott. Together we will develop navigation potentials inspired by current research in AI, neuroscience, augmented reality and wearable computing. The role of the media art team is to visually interpret the individual stories and audio content for a sighted audience and to support the performers to be creative on a mediated stage. Here, technology is used as a platform for social engagement that will amplify the voices of this local community and empower them with new navigation and orientation skills. The workshop results will be shown in a final performance, where the audience is introduced to a unique experimental theater format. jillscott.org/artwork/current_e_skin.html

• Prof. Dr. Jill Scott (Australia/Switzerland) : Director of project, director of actors, interactive media sculpture designer, specialist in sensory perception and neuroscience.
• Prof. Marille Hahne: documentary film director, sound and video editing expert, stage producer.
• Valerie Bugmann: Artificial intelligence, touch interface researcher and designer
• Dr. Andreas Schiffler: Systems designer, physicist and programmer at Microsoft
• Andrew Quinn: real time 3D and sound artist
• Vanessa Barrera Giraldo: audio engineering

Funded by Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council. Supported by AIL Productions Zurich and the Mason Lincoln Special School in Umlazi, Durban, SA.