11/10/2021 - FEELING WITHOUT TOUCHING
ABOUT FEELING TOUCH THROUGH SIGHT
When we wonder if we’d rather be blind or deaf, most of us answer without hesitating: deaf. Because sight is the sense that connects us more to the world, that makes us feel alive, that allows us to enjoy beauty and appreciate the environment around us. However, what often comes next is the thought that, if you don’t hear anything, you can’t enjoy music, which is sometimes capable of overcoming the splendour of a landscape, the magic of a sunset.
Music doesn't need anything else: to deeply appreciate a song, we close our eyes. But what would be the sea without the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks? What would be a forest without the chirping of birds? Every sense matters, and it is difficult to fit them into a scale of importance. But there are some senses that we naturally consider less.
During the pandemic, those who have unfortunately met Covid, realised how important the sense of taste and the sense of smell are. Snubbed senses, yet decisive. Without the sense of smell, it is impossible to enjoy the scent of a flower, the fragrance of an apple pie rising in the oven spread throughout the house. Without the taste, you can feel nothing but the consistency of food, nothing but the softness of somebody’s lips. To have a complete experience of the world, the union of the five senses is essential.
There is a sense, however, that we think about much less than others. The last one that remains (except for those who also believe in the sixth): touch. This sense recognises the hardness and shape of objects that come into contact with our body, allowing the brain, which processes the informations he received, to "recognize" fundamental aspects of the environment around us.
Feeling the rough bark of a tree on your hand, the soft coat of a cat on your cheek, the raindrops on your face, the wind in your hair, the sand under your feet. What if we could feel something without touching it?
We have “challenged” nature, or rather our perception, trying to evoke a sense through another. This phenomenon is medically called synaesthesia: the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. We have created images that stimulate touch and evoke the sensation of touching through sight.
We usually just have a visual experience of images, but the “material” aspect of these ones give us the sensation of touching them with our eyes. To feel without touching.