Intercorporeal design: staging mediated embodied interactions to dissolve self-other boundary to support felt connection

The feeling of connection is integral to our well-being and well-functioning society. This thesis explores interaction design that could invite a genuine felt connection to oneself, others, and the world. Through embodied cognition, we consider connection as a self-other overlap rooted in our embodied experiences. According to Merleau-Ponty's notion of intercorporeality, social interactions are embodied and situated in a shared environment, explaining how bodily expressions intertwine in an action-perception loop and resonance between embodied subjects. We contribute Intercorporeal Design, a design stance for staging immersive experiences for felt connection. We explore how Intercorporeal Design may be enacted through three approaches for modulating self-other boundary: ways of (1) incorporating others into self, (2) diffusing boundaries through touch, and (3) transcending self-boundary through self-transcendence. We arrive at provisional design tactics: supporting harmonization of interpersonal rhythms, integrating a unified aesthetic of abstract bodily representations, affording co-embodiment of a shared body, enticing touch, inviting attention to the boundary of touch, amplifying connective capacity of touch, mimicking self-transcendent phenomena, supporting mindful attention, dissolving virtual bodily boundaries, and facilitating accommodation of experiences. We use Virtual Reality, biosensing, and haptic interactions to employ these tactics across five projects: JeL and JeL 2.0 supporting breathing harmonization, Body RemiXer and ETC supporting interpersonal touch, and Awedyssey taking immersants on an awe-inspiring virtual journey informed by self-transcendent phenomena. By exhibiting and studying these artworks, we unpack how these designs mediate our bodies and invite felt connection. This analysis, together with a literature review of design strategies used to foster a genuine connection, form a basis for the proposal of Intercorporeal Design. The evolution of projects illustrates a shift from a reductionist to a holistic approach, which we posit is most conducive to Intercorporeal Design. Intercorporeal design moves beyond the sender-receiver model towards a holistic view of interaction as a co-experience of a dynamic interplay between bodies, which can be enacted by considering human bodies as design material. This design stance encompasses specific design strategies, tactics, and considerations, enriching our understanding of the permeability of self-other boundary and the promise of interaction design to contribute to a more genuinely connected and harmonious society.