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The Prix Ars Electronica Archive is a collection enabling search and viewing of all the submissions since 1987. The award-winning projects are documented with catalogue texts and audio-visual media. All other submissions can be searched by title/artist and displayed with year, category in list form. Please cite the credits (artwork name, artist and photographer) and only use the materials if your article is related to Ars Electronica.
Iso-phone
James Auger,
Stefan Agamanolis,
Jimmy Loizeau
Original: FE_2004_isophone_001_o.JPG | 1597 * 1188px | 688.0 KB
Original: Iso-phone Daten CD - helmet images iso 2 | 1591 * 1188px | 1.6 MB
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Original: Iso-phone Daten CD - tank image 1 | 2832 * 2128px | 5.3 MB
Original: Iso-phone Daten CD - tanks | 2048 * 3072px | 3.5 MB
Original: Iso-phone Daten CD - technical details 1 | 2362 * 3543px | 2.0 MB
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The Iso-phone is a telecommunications concept providing a service that can be described simply as a meeting of the telephone and the floatation tank. By blocking out peripheral sensory stimulation and distraction, the Iso-phone creates a telephonic space of heightened purity and focus.
Only a couple of decades ago our primary means of telecommunication was the telephone box—essentially a designated piece of architecture providing a contextually neutral space for remote conversation, removed from the hubbub of the outside world. The Iso-phone takes these notions of context neutrality and environmental dislocation to their sensory extremes.
The Iso-phone creates a new kind of immersive telephonic space by removing the peripheral physicality of the world. The user wears a helmet that blocks out all unnecessary sensory input while keeping the head above the surface of the water. This water is heated to body temperature, thus blurring the boundaries between the user’s body and the external physical environment. This combination creates a space which provides a pure, distraction-free environment for making a telephone call. The only sensory stimulus present is a two-way voice connection to another person using the same apparatus in another location.
Two working Iso-phone helmets have been built for experimentation and exhibition. They have been designed to operate in any body of water deeper than two meters. For the full sensory experience, two tanks have been custom-built, offering total control over the user’s environment.
Only a couple of decades ago our primary means of telecommunication was the telephone box—essentially a designated piece of architecture providing a contextually neutral space for remote conversation, removed from the hubbub of the outside world. The Iso-phone takes these notions of context neutrality and environmental dislocation to their sensory extremes.
The Iso-phone creates a new kind of immersive telephonic space by removing the peripheral physicality of the world. The user wears a helmet that blocks out all unnecessary sensory input while keeping the head above the surface of the water. This water is heated to body temperature, thus blurring the boundaries between the user’s body and the external physical environment. This combination creates a space which provides a pure, distraction-free environment for making a telephone call. The only sensory stimulus present is a two-way voice connection to another person using the same apparatus in another location.
Two working Iso-phone helmets have been built for experimentation and exhibition. They have been designed to operate in any body of water deeper than two meters. For the full sensory experience, two tanks have been custom-built, offering total control over the user’s environment.
Jimmy Loizeau (UK), MA(RCA) in design products at the Royal College of Art, 2001, MA in Fine Art at the Birmingham College of Art, 1991, BA (Hons) at the Maidstone College of Art, 1989. James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau are currently research associates in the Human Connectedness Group at Media Lab Europe in Dublin. Several prizes worldwide, individually and as a team.
James Auger (UK), MA(RCA) in design products at the Royal College of Art, 2001, BA (Hons) in product design at the Glasgow School of Art, 1995.
Stefan Agamanolis (USA) is a principal research scientist at Media Lab Europe, the European research partner of the MIT Media Laboratory. He directs the Human Connectedness Group, which explores the future of human relationships as mediated by technology. Stefan holds MS and PhD degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Earlier in his life, Stefan studied computer science, philosophy and film at Oberlin College.
James Auger (UK), MA(RCA) in design products at the Royal College of Art, 2001, BA (Hons) in product design at the Glasgow School of Art, 1995.
Stefan Agamanolis (USA) is a principal research scientist at Media Lab Europe, the European research partner of the MIT Media Laboratory. He directs the Human Connectedness Group, which explores the future of human relationships as mediated by technology. Stefan holds MS and PhD degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Earlier in his life, Stefan studied computer science, philosophy and film at Oberlin College.