We are living in a period of unprecedented social distancing, exponential increase in screen time and growing influence of social media algorithms. Within this context, Laura A Dima has developed an artwork that revitalises our experience of touch.

This multimedia installation consists of two isolated hubs that are part warped confessional, part hallucinatory phone booth. One of the hubs contains a control panel sculpture, while the other hub houses the caressing machine: heated robotic silicone fingers that, once the consent button has been pushed, respond in accordance with the first hub’s interactive sculpture. Thus, it is the participants themselves who, upon entering these hubs, bring to life the defamiliarising sensory realm that is ‘Future Affair’. Their physical contact with the objects in each hub allows a thrilling abstracted communication to develop between participants.

Laura A Dima has long been fascinated by touch as an essential aspect of human experience and how to develop new access modes to one of our oldest and deepest needs. She is engaged in thinking about touch as an essential aspect of bonding and emotional response. She alters spaces for audiences to have reconfigured experiences: in ‘Future Affair’, participants will develop communication with strangers in a slanted yet profound way, and on the deepest level.