Wearable, Touchable Art

In an interview on Make Money Not Art, Cati Vaucelle describes herself as a “knowledge shopper”; as a researcher, an inventor, and an artist. Vaucelle has studied philosophy and fine arts, computational linguistics and psychology, engineer and architecture in Paris and, in the US, at MIT and Harvard. Her inventions/creations include toys, jewelry, art and therapeutic products such as a touch-sensitive dress that can be used for massage and sensory therapy.

Vaucelle, who is doing research on “Seamless Sensory Interventions,” notes this of haptics (technology that interfaces with a user through the sense of touch): “Haptics are the key to bringing treatment into the social sphere through devices, providing new ways to mediate between the patient and the therapist both in and outside of therapy.” Another of Vaucelle’s creations, Touching Memories—which captures “the memory of touch represented by its pressure and warmth”—calls to mind Temple Grandin’s squeeze machine and the need for deep pressure that many parents have noted to be craved by their autistic children—such as when my son Charlie wraps himself up “cocoon”-like in his big blue fleece blanket.