Somaesthetics is the study and understanding of how to improve our bodily, or somatic, agency. It focuses on how to become more aware of, train and find a sensory-aesthetic appreciation, similar to how we must study any other subject at which we want to excel. Certain movements, brought about through critically aware somatic training, extends our repertory of movements, adds novel experiences, trains our somatic awareness and mastery – in short, they are good for us. This concept, relatively new to HCI, looks at our bodies as the centre of our experiential existence and looks at design, from the perspective of providing for better bodily experiences, ones which do not harm our bodies, but rather allow for fuller and more pleasurable experiences and interactions.

With the shift towards IoT-technology together with a renewed interest in the role of the human body in interaction (most notable perhaps through technologies such as Wii-motes or Kinect), we have, together with IKEA, engaged in the possible bodily experiences we can design for. By designing applications with an explicit focus on aesthetics, somaesthetics, empathy with ourselves and others, we aim to move beyond treating our bodies as mere input-output machines, using impoverished interaction modalities, towards richer, more meaningful interactions based on our human ways of living in the world.

From 2017 the Some project continues at RISE SICS and in the SSF funded Implicit Interaction project.

Contact : Anna Ståhl, anna.stahl@ri.se