“INTRA HUMAN x INTER DIGITAL” (IHxID) was developed and concieved as an experimental media exhibtion for the New Annual Festival 2024. It explores a range of technologies to examine the evolving relationship between society and media. Key themes include digital identity, information overload, deep fakes, AI, authorship, data security, and privacy. Educational in intention, IHxID aims to build awareness and spark informed conversation about how technology shapes our increasingly digital lives. Visitors move through several spaces where they encounter these themes and interact with stations that generate personalised data sets for the central installation, Social Cushion. Their actions demonstrate how human agency can minimise negative impacts and, via the Social Cushion, guide technology towards a state of tranquillity.

SOCIAL CUSHION by Iain Greenhalgh
The Social Cushion offers a safe, welcoming and playful entry point through simple, largely passive engagement: visitors enter, sit, and experience a deep, fast-tracked meditation supported by custom audio-visual technology. The cushion receives data through physical interaction. The chair is enveloped by a winged structure carrying an array of 64 small LED screens. The Social Cushion maintains active social media accounts on X, Facebook and Instagram, streaming live posts that continuously update the LED matrix. Hidden textual and emoji triggers can cause full-screen takeovers. The surrounding environment functions as an audio-visual light sculpture, responsive to visitors both inside the space and outside, including through the window at night. Before using the chair, visitors are invited to read aloud a privacy statement (EULA), drawing attention to the shifting complexities of privacy in digital social spaces. These spoken words are recorded, with excerpts integrated into the work’s visual and sonic layers.