10. What Presence?

A ritual for an absent body. - Our tangible bodies are increasingly absent in physical space while we meet worldwide online. This continuous absence changes our social consiousness based on physicality.

Meeting the DataVeil.
In TELE_TRUST we design a physical encounter with a non-tangible persona. The DataVeil suggests absence, a negative presence manifesting itself in public space and staging the act of disappearing. Onlookers see a seeking entity absorbed by an interior world; this self-touching, veiled body evokes a sense of solitude. Seeing the person touching his or her body is both disturbing and beautiful. Once the person starts touching the DataVeil and appears online, the surrounding, gazing audience becomes engaged in this tangible body interface for scanning online trust.

WHO IS WATCHING YOU NOW?