Further images / Return to 2009
Description: The Feeling Cities - Public Contact Vehicle encouraged members of the public in Sydney to be in physical contact with a stranger whilst their identity remained concealed. A vehicle was designed to allow two people to anonymously touch hands for period of time of their choosing. The Action Researcher/Performer was located in one side of the vehicle concealed from view. Members of the public entered the other side of the vehicle and were encouraged to pull down the concealing blind beside them. The hands of the two participants would then engage through a clear plexiglass tube connecting each compartment of the vehicle. This ‘connection tunnel’ allowed members of the public on the outside to witness the physical communication taking place. On the inside, neither person could see or hear the other, reducing the sensory interaction to the singular experience of touch. Some members of the public stayed in the vehicle for just a few minutes, others stayed for up to one hour. Passers-by were intrigued and noticeably moved by the real and often intimate connection made between the hands of two complete strangers.