Touching nature

 

With the aim of contributing to the Touch project, during the month of March 2011, a workshop in nature to explore the physical and natural environment through the sense of touch was developed.

It took place in Viladrau (Girona, Catalonia) with the professors Jon Marín and Tito Favaro (from the Product and Interior Design Department of ESDi) and the 3rd year students of Product Design. The objective was to experience outdoor group dynamics that help to perceive our surroundings without the aid of sight. The feelings of the participants were collected on video and in photographs, which some of them are shown below.

The exercises were distributed throughout the afternoon and began with a relaxing action on the river: after lunch, participants enjoyed 20 minutes free to find a space to accommodate themselves and to perceive all that is immediate around them (1 squared meter) through all their senses. Most areas were chosen by the water and they experienced, mainly through their feet (but also face, hands, chest,...) the different soil surfaces.

Once the participants had adapted to the natural environment and felt comfortable, a blindfolded journey was performed. The fellow behind the front guided through a club that united them. This tour ended in the forest, making the point where the last game activity related to the senses (touch, guidance, trust, humor ...) took place: Treehugging.

Treehuggig: in pairs, one blindfolded and the other escorts him to a tree. The tree will be explored through touch by the blindfolded. When finished, both return to the meeting point (through a different way), blindfolded is released from the band and he will have to find the chosen tree. What at first was a forest becomes a collection of all individual trees. Once found, the tables are turned.

These dynamics allowed them to experience the sense of touch in nature, not just textures, but also being able to navigate and understand the environment from the friction of the wind on the face, the incidence of sunlight on the skin or moisture detection with the soles of the feet. And to be aware and respect the nature. The result of the experiment thus becomes the own experimentation.

In fact, these were the conclusions drawn from sharing the feelings of each participant. In the end, everyone expressed what they had learned or what they felt with a stone used to make a shared humble piece of land-art.