How can we explore electrical circuits in an embodied way? This is the question we wanted to explore through our short project. Instead of building a circuit we feel disconnected from, made of tiny, delicate components, what if a person or a group of people became the circuit itself, each acting as one of its components? This led us to the idea of a "human circuit" that activates when people hold hands and deactivates when they let go.
We first tested this with a two-person circuit: wrapping one index finger each in woven conductive tape and adding it to a circuit with a battery and an LED. Touching our fingertips together closed the circuit, lighting the LED. We repeated the test wrapping the conductive tape around our hands instead, to see how much contact was needed to turn the LED on.
In the final prototype, we replaced the conductive tape with strips of conductive fabric wrapped around each person's hands. The exposed ends of electric wires were sewn onto the fabric with conductive thread and connected to one of the circuit's components. Once all four people — each standing in for a component (battery, LED, conductive tape, Velostat) — held hands, closing the circuit, the LED necklace lit up.
Thinking of people as circuit components helped us visualise and understand the logic behind a cirtui and how it works. Through this project, we also learned how to choose conductive materials and connect them in non-standard ways.
