Haptic Hongi - Reiterated

Haptic Hongi – Reiterated uses Augmented Reality (AR) to recreate meeting an indigenous person on their own terms, and thereby reimagine first encounters that took place during the pre-colonisation era in Aotearoa New Zealand. These encounters were often a-symmetrical affairs, freighted with troubled power dynamics and violence, so there is a need to rebalance, restore and reconnect in a playful way. In the experience, AR technology is used to place a virtual woman in front of the user, and then haptic actuators are used to enable the user to feel a hongi, the traditional Māori greeting involving pressing of noses. In this way, AR technologies enable people to communicate across time and space so that they may feel as though they have met.