Ishin Den Shin

Ishin-Denshin is an art installation that consists of a microphone that can record and transmit sounds through touch. Once recorded, the sound is transformed into an inaudible signal.  This signal is transmitted to a person’s body when holding the microphone. The recorded sound becomes audible only when touching someone’s ear. The sound can only be heard by the touched ear, as if the finger would whisper the recorded sounds. Secrets, messages and whispers can then be transmitted from person to person in physical contact. Bodies become a broadcasting medium for intimate and physical sound communication.

This interactive art installation addresses physicality and intimacy in digital audio communication. Ishin-Denshin is a four-kanji mantra that represents the traditional Japanese concept of interpersonal communication through unspoken mutual understanding. It literally translates as “what the mind thinks, the heart transmits.” Sometimes explained in English in terms of “telepathy” or “sympathy”, the term is also commonly rendered as “heart-to-heart communication” or “tacit understanding.” [Wikipedia]

Team and Credits

The Ishin-den-shin installation has been designed and developed at Disney Research Pittsburgh with Yuri Suzuki and Ivan Poupyrev.

Matthew Glisson, Alex Rothera and Yoshio Ishiguro joined the Ishin-Den-Shin team for the design and production of the Cyber Arts 2013 exhibition.

Publications and Awards

Honorable Mention, Interaction Category, Prix Ars Electronica 2013.

CyberArts 2013 Exhibition, Ars Electronica 2013, Linz, Austria.