Zhao Zhou – SEE DJERBA

Waiting Currents (2024)

“Waiting Currents” is a responsive installation that subtly shifts the sensory experience from sight to touch, inviting viewers to engage with the often-overlooked sense of touch. This technical sculpture occasionally releases gentle puffs of air, creating invisible currents that move through the space.

Metallic cones are the primary elements of the sculpture, designed to push air intermittently. Their industrial aesthetic contrasts with the delicate sensation they produce, emphasizing the interplay between the physical and the intangible.

Passing by, air vortices create a tactile experience, brushing against the viewer’s skin. “Waiting Currents” encourages you to trust your sense of touch, a sensory experience usually overshadowed by the dominance of sight in urban spaces.

The installation creates an immaterial but haptic interface in space through air vortices, blurring the physical and intangible boundaries and reshaping sensory hierarchies. This installation is part of the “Forced Switch” series, which disrupts the dominance of visual stimuli and engages alternative senses, encouraging a more diverse and inclusive sensory experience.

Urban environments are predominantly designed to engage our visual senses through images, text, and architecture. “Waiting Currents” challenges this norm by using air as a medium to shift perception from sight to touch, reactivating the skin as a sensory receptor.