proximate intimacies
Collective Sound Experience⎪Dutch Design Week, SFF Gebouw, Eindhoven⎪10/2026
We do not exist as isolated bodies. We emerge through our entanglements with other bodies, technologies, and environments. Sensing technologies are part of these relations, not merely observing and measuring our behaviour but also influencing it, often in ways we do not notice. Through interdisciplinary research with dancers, Proximate Intimacies explores how these technologies shape our encounters and whether sound can help us recognise and challenge the patterns that emerge between us. A depth-sensing camera captures how people move in relation to one another, while a digital modular synthesiser transforms this data into sound. As participants respond to what they hear, they reshape the soundscape in real time, creating a feedback loop between movement and sound. By making these relationships audible, the installation invites you to explore, question, and potentially transform how you relate to others.
Proximate Intimacies
Artistic Direction, Composition & Sound Design: Laura Papke
Co-Creation & Computer Vision Algorithm Design: Harm Belt
Movement Research: Anne Sandee, Lisa Kiesgen, Laura López Ferrer, Ro-Mí Pouw, Paula Helge, Ana Paula Lemus Payiatsou
Composition & Sound Design Mentoring: Julie Østengaard
Computer Vision Research & Technical Assistance: Laura Delgado Rusli
Site Specific V
Performance & Choreography: Death Proof Project (Lisa Kiesgen & Laura López Ferrer)
Film stills: Marica de Michele
Supported by: Cultuur Eindhoven, Effenaar, Design to Market
sonic driving
Participatory Performance⎪Microtuin, Eindhoven⎪06/2022
The project Sonic Driving traverses personal experiences into a collective symphony, inviting participants to experience and practice connectedness through sound. In it, frequencies that can be felt in the body are channelled as a medium for synchronisation and co-regulation, reminiscent of ancient drumming practices. Using fingertip sensors, the participants' heart rates are captured and digitally converted into low-frequency sound, allowing them to hear and feel the pulse of themselves and others through individually assigned speakers. The beats are converged, turning the heart rhythms inside out across their inner and outer boundaries into a united track that invites a sense of connection and belonging on a troubled earth.
The project was developed in collaboration with Luigi Gjergjaj, Marko Milas and Robin Modjesch.
Get some impressions of Dutch Design Week 2022 here or listen to the mixdown of a Sonic Driving example session: Please note that the sounds were designed for a specific set-up. Hence, they may not match the original frequencies.
Sonic Driving @ DDW22, Photo Credits: Femke Reijerman