SECRET HANDSHAKE TRAINING DEVICE
SECRET HANDSHAKE TRAINING DEVICE, 2015
NICOLAS MYERS (UK)
Most of the secrets we keep and exchange, from passwords to personal photos, seem to exist only in digital form. So much so that it’s now difficult to imagine passwords and cyphers being mediated by anything but computers. Is there a still a role for a purely analog exchange of secrets?
The Secret Handshake Training Device looks to reinstate the idea of secret handshakes in a playful way. Sticking out of a box placed on a stand, an artificial hand invites visitors to shake it. When grasped, the device will offer simple instructions on how to use this training device, before sending a sequence of vibrations to each finger. The visitor is then invited to reproduce the sequence by squeezing each finger in the same order and rhythm. The machine will offer feedback on the trainee’s performance.
Tapping into our muscle memory, the Secret Handshake Training Device offers the perfect way to practice and learn complex sequences and subtle secret handshakes to share identities and credentials between people.
BIO:
Nicolas Myers’ work, greatly influenced by his studies in graphic design and computer sciences, investigates the implications of digital technology through the filter of design. In a context where almost all physical objects and phenomena are described in a digital manner, his projects question the neutrality of these representations, while focusing on aesthetic and visual representations and interactive experiences. Nicolas graduated from the Design Interactions course of the Royal College of Art in London. He holds an M.A. in Graphic Design from the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He works and lives in London and has shown his work in numerous exhibitions including at MoMA in New York and at the Design Museum in London.