Dis-Sensing Video: The Illusion of Touch in Early Video Art

In this article, I examine the virtual haptic dimension of early video artworks by Vito Acconci, Douglas Davis, Bill Viola, and Sanja Iveković. As the term “virtual” suggests, the sense of touch in these works is not physically real but rather an illusion constructed through scene manipulation and performative engagement of the artists behind the video camera. I introduce the term dis-sensing to highlight how the works of these artists disrupt (dis-) the conventional limitations of sensing the world through video, typically confined to the domains of sight and hearing. Through illusion, these artists have been able to “cheat” the viewer’s perception of what video can convey to the senses, challenging its conventional interactions with the human body beyond eyes and ears. My interest in reinterpreting these works within an expanded sensory framework arises from pandemic observations of telepresence via videoconferencing platforms. When not used for work-related purposes, these platforms were employed to “stay in touch” with friends and relatives through simulated affective spheres. This idea of creating the illusion of touch was already present in early video art of the 1970s, through techniques of engaging the haptic feeling of viewers without actually using touch.