touch is response-ability is an interactive, touchscreen artwork exploring which bodies are seen and which are neglected as well as quantum interpretations of human bodies as fluid, unboundaried and expansive.

Like a digital version of a traditional flick book animation, participants repeatedly touch the screen to cycle through gradually changing images.

Through Heaney’s bespoke quantum computing code, various standard representations of bodies scatter and dissolve, inviting audiences to question the possibilities and limitations of our earth-bound form.

The ‘first’ and ‘last’ stills were created by Heaney based on extensive research into representations of the body in AI and computer vision (2020 models) and parallels in art history.

She found that white, young, slim and able bodies were visible and deemed acceptable, while other bodies were often neglected, invisible or cast as monstrous.

touch is response-ability therefore highlights the prejudicial biases in both western art history and AI, showing how historical and cultural biases are now being translated into code.

The images are watched by a computer vision algorithm – Open-Pose (2020 version) – which loses track of the body as it becomes fluid and unboundaried, suggesting how quantum ways of existing can avoid digital surveillance mechanisms.

The title of the work comes from philosopher Karen Barad’s essay “On touching” and implicates the audience in the construction of visibility and boundary-making.