Audiences don’t just watch Omari Carter’s latest dance-film installation — they feel it.
In “Our Vibes: A Vibrotactile Screendance Installation,” viewers step onto a 12-by-12-foot vibrating platform where they can sit, stand, or even lie down. As the film unfolds on a large screen flanked by two speakers, they physically experience the rhythms and vibrations generated by two performers who, without words, use dance and body percussion to move through tension and conflict into harmony.
Carter, an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Dance Department, says the tactile experience explores the dynamics of communication in relationships, even when people seem out of sync.
The installation debuted at the recent a2ru Conference 2025, hosted at UW–Madison.
The idea emerged in the period after pandemic lockdowns, when “everyone had screen-fatigue,” Carter recalls.
“It became interesting to think how I could bridge the gap between the live space and the filming space — to literally allow people to feel the work I was making.”
Bringing that concept to life required collaboration across campus. Carter partnered with UW–Madison engineers and a large production team, including Jesse Darley, a design engineer in the Granger Engineering Design and Innovation Lab. Darley and a group of engineering students worked closely with Carter to design and build the platform, viewing the project as a chance to apply engineering principles in a creative context.
“It’s about being able to learn each other’s languages and how we can work together to achieve a vision,” Darley says.
“It’s exciting when you get to collaborate in different spaces like this,” agrees Carter. “You get to utilize tools and elements that you wouldn’t even think about or knew existed.”
Cinematographer Aaron Granat, who shot the film, sees it as part of a growing trend toward more multisensory storytelling. “We seem to be on a trajectory of more and more immersion,” he says. “Some people judge that as getting further from the pure art form that cinema used to be. But I find the potential to be great in finding more central modalities through which the story can be conveyed.”
Accessibility was also central to the design. The platform includes a wheelchair ramp, and the setup makes dance more inclusive for people who are hard of hearing or have other sensory needs. “It’s a work that people can encounter in a variety of different contexts, and it will pull them in and grab their attention,” Granat says.
“The audience has to come first with this piece — that’s who we’re designing it for,” says Carter.
In early tests, Carter has been fascinated by how people experience the installation. “It felt like the most interesting thing wasn’t necessarily the dance on the film, but it was the dance of the audience on the floor,” he reflects. “It was fantastic to see how different audiences react in very different ways — some people lying on the ground, and some people running around or even dancing on the floor.”
While still in development, Carter plans to show the work at Lathrop Hall and other UW–Madison locations in the coming year. Six behind-the-scenes videos are also slated for release in 2026.
Visit omaricarter.com for updates on screening times and locations.