Postphenomenological performance: bodily extensions in interactive art

This paper explores the extension of the body through the technological architecture of interactive art installations. It incorporates and builds upon Don Ihde?s postphenomenological philosophy of technology to argue how tools extend and limit the human body. This work expands upon Ihde?s hypothesis to consider how technologically mediated bodies adapt to and co-create interactive experiences. Through a methodological framework of postphenomenology, this work uses Jeffrey Shaw?s The Legible City (1988) and Dennis Del Favero?s immersive artwork Scenario (2011) as case studies. Through application of Ihde and an interview I conducted with Del Favero in 2014, this paper examines how the body is mediated, extended and reduced into his artwork through motion-sensing technology. It also considers Ihde?s concept of bodyhood as well as his specific ideas on human?technology relationships, which I argue can be broken down as a way to consider the composition of interactive art. Overall this paper considers the human body?s negotiation with technology as an interface that co-composes experientiality where users become postphenomenologically extended in interactive environments.