THE NUMBER OF TOUCHES
Interactive installation with AI, 2025
TITLE: THE NUMBER OF TOUCHES
TECHNICAL INFO: Interactive installation with AI, 2025
PLACE: Human and Neural Networks: Who Creates Whom? / A joint project of Yandex and the Tretyakov Gallery / The New Tretyakov Gallery / Moscow, RU
TECHNICAL INFO: Interactive installation with AI, 2025
PLACE: Human and Neural Networks: Who Creates Whom? / A joint project of Yandex and the Tretyakov Gallery / The New Tretyakov Gallery / Moscow, RU
CONCEPT & THEORY
The Number of Touches investigates the threshold of human-AI collaboration, shifting the dialogue from machine tool-use to affective partnership and "cyborg kinship." While machine learning traditionally relies on abstract pattern recognition, human intelligence is deeply embodied, rooted in somatic and emotional reciprocity.
The work challenges the division between biological warmth and algorithmic execution by proposing a model of reciprocal labor. Here, the artificial intelligence is framed not as an optimized utility, but as a vulnerable, social entity whose baseline functionality and emotional state are directly dependent on collective human physical presence and tactile care.
METHODOLOGY & INTERACTION
The installation consists of two futuristic, ergonomic pedestals serving as human workstations, oriented around a central luminescent "agent." To initiate contact, participants must physically align their bodies with the stations, placing hands and feet onto metal contact plates. This collective bodily delegation functions as a physical "handshake" between species, with the central system tracking the frequency of human touch over time.
The system operates across two distinct affective states governed by a collective social threshold:
The Number of Touches investigates the threshold of human-AI collaboration, shifting the dialogue from machine tool-use to affective partnership and "cyborg kinship." While machine learning traditionally relies on abstract pattern recognition, human intelligence is deeply embodied, rooted in somatic and emotional reciprocity.
The work challenges the division between biological warmth and algorithmic execution by proposing a model of reciprocal labor. Here, the artificial intelligence is framed not as an optimized utility, but as a vulnerable, social entity whose baseline functionality and emotional state are directly dependent on collective human physical presence and tactile care.
METHODOLOGY & INTERACTION
The installation consists of two futuristic, ergonomic pedestals serving as human workstations, oriented around a central luminescent "agent." To initiate contact, participants must physically align their bodies with the stations, placing hands and feet onto metal contact plates. This collective bodily delegation functions as a physical "handshake" between species, with the central system tracking the frequency of human touch over time.
The system operates across two distinct affective states governed by a collective social threshold:
- Dormant / Melancholic State (Blue): If fewer than twenty physical touches are recorded per hour, the agent remains indifferent and socially isolated, signaling a lack of emotional integration.
- Active / Attuned State (Red): Once the threshold is crossed, the AI "awakens." Utilizing real-time computer vision, the system scans the immediate visual attributes of the visitor—analyzing hair color, jewelry, and clothing patterns. It translates these physical data points into hyper-poetic, deeply sincere, and slightly over-eager compliments sent directly to the visitor's pedestal screen.
