Close Circuit
by TRIPOT
In this audiovisual essay, our aim was to explore the cyclical nature of the ‘Oddly Satisfying’ and ASMR ‘sensory genres’ [1] in relation to contemporary internet audiences searching for embodied experiences of pleasure and comfort. The visual source material we used consisted of online videos connected to the OS genre, while the auditory source material was compiled from ASMR videos. The editing structure reflects the fragmented repetitiveness of the source videos that have been looped and manipulated through different compositing, distortion, and AI effects to create a seamless flow of motion that is at once mesmerising and disorienting. Hereby, we aim to emphasise the affective intensity of OS/ASMR videos as well as their uncanny nature as mechanical animated loops, depicting them as a manifestation of the ‘fraught relation’[2] between our bodies and our machines.
‘Oddly Satisfying’, together with its closely related sibling ASMR, is a term that has developed in online communities over the last couple of years into an audio-visual ‘micro genre’[3]. Both genres have had a similar evolution. In the beginning, both terms referred to unintentionally created videos with (roughly) similar formal and thematic properties that were shared through several (mostly text-based) media platforms such as Reddit. With time, the genres consolidated to their current form, which is formally and thematically more consistent and mostly dominated by user-generated content on image-based platforms YouTube and Instagram.
Most of the early ASMR videos contained deliberately unintelligible vocal sounds, not intended to convey semantic meaning in the form of speech but rather to elicit affective reactions to sonic artifacts that would be regarded as ‘noise’ in another context[4]. Currently, ‘ASMRtists’ intentionally create these clicking, tapping, and scratching noises by manipulating everyday objects or their own bodies in interplay with specialised technical equipment such as binaural microphones. In another evolution of the genre, a lot of videos started incorporating role-playing scenarios of care-taking. Mostly young women whisper words of affirmation and comfort to the spectator in a second-person address. The scenarios often occur in a medical or therapeutic environment, situating them clearly within the realm of (self-)care and well-being.
While OD videos are rarely intended to generate intimate, interpersonal connections through narrative, they attempt to create a physical and affective experience, much like ASMR videos, by using intense sensory stimuli.
Most popular videos show ‘perfectly functioning’ production or craft processes, tactile play with malleable materials or everyday objects, or (in a more recent development) computer-generated 3D animation. Three shared formal characteristics are notable: an almost tangible material presence, which can be linked to the concept of ‘haptic visuality’[5], continuous motion, and high levels of symmetry and repetition. The textural properties of the material and the repetition of perfectly-executed smooth movements elicit an almost meditative state of contemplation in many spectators. The resulting feeling of repose of the mind seems to be a much desired emotional state in a media environment of constant vigilance and connectedness.
With our internet-enabled devices, we are inhabiting an experiential space where our attention is constantly solicited, whether during labor or leisure. Unable to separate one from the other, we turn to our device for both ‘work and pleasure’[6], simultaneously subjecting ourselves to stress and seeking solace from it.
Authors
Tripot is an artist collective based in Brussels. They create sensorial audiovisual art as part of their research-driven practice. Their artworks stimulate and at the same time investigate the embodied experience of looking. Through the appropriation and deconstruction of imagery the artists break dominant patterns of social discourse into multiple perspectives.
The collective was founded in 2012 by Aïlien Reyns and Marius Packbier. In 2016 TRIPOT grew to be an artist-run production platform and has since then produced various international art and research projects. Their work has been presented through screenings, exhibitions, and lectures by International Film Festival Rotterdam, Onion City Film Festival, Small File Media Festival, Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris, Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival, Cineteca Madrid, iMAL Art Center, Argos Center for Audiovisual Arts, Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, University of Antwerp, Beijing Film Academy and University of Pennsylvania.
References
Andersen, J. ‘Now You’ve Got the Shiveries: Affect, Intimacy, and the ASMR Whisper Community’, Television & New Media, 16(8), 2015: 683-700.
Barratt E. L., Davis N. J. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): A flow-like mental state. PeerJ, 3, 2015: e851.
Boyoung, L. Breeze: A meditation into movement. Virginia Tech, 2022.
Fest, R. ‘“ASMR” media and the attention economy’s crisis of care’, Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 59, Fall 2019.
Fetveit, A. ‘The uncanny mediality of the photographic GIF’, NECSUS_European Journal of Media Studies, 7(1), 2018: 45-65.
Gallagher, R. ‘Eliciting Euphoria Online: The Aesthetics of “ASMR” Video Culture’, Film Criticism, 40(2), 2016.
Keen, T. ‘Fleshy motions, temporal sinks: affect and animated gifs’, Porn Studies, 3(3), 2016: 314-316.
Johannes N., Veling, H., Dora, J., Meier A., Reinecke L., and Buijzen M. ‘Mind-Wandering and Mindfulness as Mediators of the Relationship Between Online Vigilance and Well-Being’, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 21(12), 2018: 761-767.
Malone, E. On the oddly satisfying. Contemporary Aesthetics, Vol. 15, 2017.
Marks, L. The skin of the film: Intercultural cinema, embodiment and the senses. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000.
McCarthy, A. ‘Visual pleasure and GIFs’ in Compact cinematics: The moving image in the age of bit-sized media, edited by P. Hesselberth and M. Poulaki. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017: 113-122.
McKay, S. ‘The Affect of Animated GIFs (Tom Moody, Petra Cortright, Lorna Mills)’, Artandeducation.net, 2009.
Nansen, B. and Balanzategui, J. ‘Visual tactility: ‘Oddly satisfying’ videos, sensory genres and ambiguities in children’s YouTube’, Convergence, 28(6), 2022: 1555-1576.
Schonig, J. ‘“Liking” as creating: On aesthetic category memes’, New Media & Society, 22(1), 2020: 26-48.
Waldron, E. ‘“This FEELS SO REAL!” Sense and sexuality in ASMR videos’, First Monday, 2016.
Werning, S. ‘Remediating tactility: The re-negotiation of sensory experience in satisfying videos on YouTube’, Interin, 25(1), 2019: 57-82.
[1] See Nansen & Balanzategui 2022.
[2] See Fetveit 2018.
[3] See Werning 2019.
[4] See Gallagher 2016.
[5] See Marks 2000.
[6] See Fest 2019.