Objectoception

  • Pierre Azalbert

Objectoception (neologism): the perception of oneself in space through the perspective of objects. This project applies the philosophical concepts of phenomenology and object-oriented ontology to experimental design processes. Phenomenology is the study of the subjective experience of the world (seeing things as humans). Object-oriented ontology is the idea of a world where humans and objects are equal.

Our most advanced experiment aims to test whether by removing direct vision, but with physical feedback, participants can experience a dissociative effect while performing a functional task. The participant wears a headset showing three different third person perspectives of themselves in a defined space, and is asked to collect parts necessary to assemble a fake lamp. Each time a part is placed correctly with the right orientation, a spotlight turns on.