Swing that thing: Moving to move

Swing That Thing... is a practice-based doctoral research project that examines how technology in on and around the body might be used to poeticise experience. Outcomes include a range of body-worn devices that encourage people to explore and move in playful ways. The works have evolved from a common design intent: 'to move the body through real and virtual extension'. By extending the body, mechanically, gesturally and sensorially we can encourage people to move in extra-normal ways, so view and experience their bodies from perhaps hitherto unknown perspectives. This affords insight into how our bodies can move and what this feels like; individual body-centric learning preferences; and the idiosyncratic nature of personal, corporeal expressiveness. The research is leading to a deeper understanding of how thoughtful applications of technology to the body might uncover our expressive and poetic potential, and why this might be of value.