2008_2010

Shared Inc. operated by xperiment!

pillow squirrel 2.0, recording device

for emotional expressions of patients and non-patients. Vienna 2009

Pillow design for live private- institutional noise and sound exchange; Vienna, 2010

& G. Ramsebner

Vibratory unit, Vienna, 2010

The long-term rehabilitation of patients in vegetative state and minimally conscious state – conditions of extensive unawareness and unresponsiveness to external stimuli - calls for 24-hour care at specialized wards and nursing facilities where patients live together with professional caregivers, family members, physicians, therapists and - sometimes - with ethnographers, researchers and artists. The outcome of interactions between all parties concerned is uncertain since diagnosis, prognosis and therapy alike are case dependent, insecure and controversially discussed.

We assume that we are facing patients and non-patients with the potential to become „talented bodies/persons“ with their original abilities and skills. We further assume that the unfolding of these talents strongly depends on the interactions between patients and non-patients. With reference to sensory stimulation concepts as they are discussed in the respective therapeutic context we intend to enrich and explore these interactions by means of modifying and transforming an ubiquitous interface: the pillow. The development of a number of “technically (digital and analog) enhanced” pillows follows the principles of a sociology of translation. What we mean by that is the creation of a distributed, situated and collective diagnostic setting that explores the meaning of „diagnosing/assessing“ of consciousness, perception, emotions at the intersection of clinical medicine, therapeutic nursing and lay expertise.

The project helps us to deepen our understanding of the relationship and interdependencies between medical, nursing and lay rationalities in the context of health care. Furthermore, our research provides insights in the field of science and art.

Laughing activity of a vegetative patient during three half-hour sessions; data acquisition by collective sensor®, optimized signal-to-noise ratio; read from left to right; © Shared Inc.

Tickling pillows; vibro-stimulatory