Within Touching Distance

Mixing real life with virtual reality in a synchronised one-on-one experience with headset an performer, the London premiere a new immersive show exploring touch Exploring the fragile nature of life and the comfort of human connection, the audience is taken from childhood through to old age, looking into the nature of touch as it is experienced by an infant, adult and a person in palliative care. Using embodiment in virtual reality and the ritual of the mundane everyday task of getting ready for bed, the participants are taken through human life cycles, highlighting how our experiences change the way we interact, at a sensory level, with the world. WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE is a one-on-one live performance that combines human touch, spatial audio, VR synchronisation and is part of a larger research project exploring the role of XR and human touch in digital mental health therapies. The project, led by ZU-UK in collaboration with Liverpool Cares, the Centre for Creative Futures and GLASC (Learning & Simulation Centre) at the University of Greenwich, won one of the first ever Inclusive Innovation Award 2023 by Innovate UK, has received a special mention by the Jury of the International Alternate Realities Competition at Sheffield DocFest 2023, received the Unlimited International Partner Awards (British Council), and was recently presented at the “Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology: Infrastructure Roundtable" to discuss the potential of arts research to provide crossover benefits to the UK economy and in healthcare.