The Complexity of Touch – An Installation by Madi Boyd

The Complexity of Touch is a tactile immersive installation, by Richmond-based artist Madi Boyd. It has been informed by original artistic and psychological research to explore the role touch and body play in shaping perception, memory and imagination.  

Through a combination of made objects, moving image and audio, the installation is a space that visitors can explore through all their senses: feeling, rather than merely seeing, the beauty in form, like a composition for the hands. Visuals in the form of projected moving image are integrated into the tactile experience. The specially commissioned soundscape, created by Nye Parry, will explore the tactility of sound and vibration through resonant objects in the space.  

The installation probes the role touch and body play in sculpting perception, memory and imagination. It has been informed by original psychological research undertaken at Royal Holloway University as part of a long-standing collaboration between artist Madi Boyd and psychologist Professor Polly Dalton. The research phase, which included participant trials at The Attention Lab at Royal Holloway University assessed what combinations and levels of sensory input are most memorable, attention grabbing and compelling, or cause ‘overload’. 

Madi Boyd  

Boyd’s work uses light, space and time as sculptural matter. She often works collaboratively with neuro-scientists and psychologists as much of the inspiration for her work comes from research into the brain and perceptual system. She makes large immersive installations combining projected moving image and sculptural constructions. The installations form part of an ongoing interest in rethinking the filmic experience, with particular regard to presenting moving image spatially and with the interaction of all the senses. Tactility is a particular preoccupation, and this interest in exploring touch and tactile forms of expression has led to her current project involving visual and non-visual art installations. Boyd studied sculpture at The Slade School of Art (2001-5), with personal tutor Dame Phyllida Barlow. Her work has been exhibited at, among others, The Science Museum, London, The Science Gallery, Dublin, Art Laboratory Berlin, Puke Ariki Museum, New Zealand, Guangzou Province, China, Kunstkraft-werk, Leipzig, Science Discovery Centre, Kuala Lumpa, The Discovery Place, USA and Ca’ Foscari Zattere, Venice.    

Prof Polly Dalton  

Polly Dalton is a Professor of Psychology and director of The Attention Lab at Royal Holloway University. One of her main research areas is the way that attention acts within and between the sensory modalities of vision, hearing and touch.    

Nye Parry  

Nye Parry’s work encompasses sound installation, multimedia, concert works and over twenty full length scores for contemporary dance companies. He has made sound installations for major museums including the National Maritime Museum, the Science Museum and the British Museum. His installation Significant Birds has reached over a million visitors worldwide. His work explores music as a spatial practice, Illusion and perception and generative soundscape ecologies.   

He frequently collaborates with artist Madi Boyd to explore multi-modal relationships and inter- actions. His writing on music appears in The Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio, Organised Sound, Neue Zeitshrift fur Musik among others. From 2003 – 2011 he led the MA in Sonic Arts at Middlesex University and he is Professor of Electronic Music and Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity Laban Conservatoire.