Ilinx is a performative environment for the general public which provokes an intense bodily experience that blurs the senses of sight, sound and touch. In the environment, a group of four visitors at a time wear the Ilinx garment, specially designed garments which are outfitted with thirty vibrotactile actuators. In addition, they wear a helmet which partially obscures the participant’s vision. During the event, a ritualistic progression which lasts approximately twenty minutes, the natural continuum between sound and vibration, vision and feeling becomes increasingly blurred, extending and stretching the body’s boundaries beyond the realm of everyday experience.

A central computer generates performance data for the light, sound, and haptic systems. A mini-computer located in each garment receives wireless commands and uses custom-built electronics to generate control signals for the vibrotactile actuators. A variety of tactile effects were created including periodic pulsations, vibrations smoothly moving through the body, and full-body sparkle effects.

Premiered at TodaysArt2014 in The Hague, Ilinx has also been presented at art festivals in Berlin, Tokyo, and in Summer 2016 will be presented in Singapore. To date more than 1000 participants have worn the garments. Ilinx was funded by a grant from the Canada Arts Council (CAC).

Chris Salter + TeZ: Direction and Sound Valerie Lamontagne: Wearables Direction and Design Isabelle Campeau: Wearable Development Marie-Eve Lecavalier Lemieux: Wearable Development Ian Hattwick: Technology Direction/Hardware-Software Omar Faleh: Lighting Collaboration Panagiotis Tomaras: Production Assistance Marcello Giordano: Hardware-Software/Haptics Research Ivan Franco: Hardware-Software Deborah Egloff: Haptics Research Morgan Rauscher: Robotics development/Production Assistance Ian Arawjo: Sketching Software