Performing Identity through Wearable Sensing

The current technology fervour over wearable technology that collects user’s intimate body data, under the pretense of medical or fitness monitoring, highlights that it is time that critical questions were raised. The ethics of corporate ownership of body data for consumerist agendas is rarely discussed beyond the fine print on these devices [5]. More awareness and education on these issues, would potentially allow more access, ownership, and creativity in the use of one’s own body data, and ways to express personal identity through this data. This paper highlights these issues, through discussion of a new collaborative project by the authors, which brings performers together to help address the ethical issues around identity and data ownership when using wearable technology in performance. The project develops methods to use and hack commercial wearable devices, as well as making handmade etextiles sensing devices for performance. As such, we aim to engage performers to access their own physiological data for personal use, but also to create unique and interactive performances.