Close Encounters

Abstract

Close Encounters is an experience of proximity and distance, of the self and the Other, of the human and the non-human, of familiarity and strangeness, of possibility and impossibility. In short, it is an experience of experience. Close Encounters is a compilation of writings and images developed through a phenomenological practice involving a deliberate, prolonged study of technological objects as part of a UBC graduate course in the fall of 2022. Drawing on the work of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Bernard Stiegler, Don Ihde, and Max van Manen, our phenomenological practice created an opportunity for each member of the class to dwell within the nuances and complexities of our embodied experiences with our technological objects. Our writings that came from this experience, along with unique images created with Midjourney’s AI image generator, are presented in this compilation. We hope experiencing Close Encounters helps create openings for new perceptions of the ordinary, new questions about meaning, and new insights into the world.