Technology and the Six Senses Table

Introduction:

Developed as the central axis for the "Technology + Human" exhibition at Nantha Sippakhan Learning Center in Nan, Thailand, Technology and the Six Senses Table functions as both a curatorial framework and an art installation. It organizes over 70 technological artifacts through a systematic recontextualization of human perception.

The work moves beyond chronological or functional narratives, instead using the constraints of human experience prior to these inventions as a primary inquiry. By exploring technology as an extension of the body, the project serves as both a pedagogical tool for young learners and a proposition that questions our relationship with tools in the contemporary world.

About Project:

This work is an attempt to construct a taxonomy of the human-technology relationship, utilizing a 6 × 15 grid as its structural foundation.

Drawing from Marshall McLuhan’s concept of “Technology as the extension of man,” the system maps the six senses (āyatana) against technological categories. It examines how, at each intersection of the grid, technology extends specific sensory capabilities and reshapes the human experience.

The grid serves as an open conceptual space where objects remain fluid—subject to relocation or replacement based on time and context, guided by the curatorial relationships established between objects. This taxonomy is a "proposition" for organizing knowledge that remains adaptable to varying conditions under its established rules of engagement.

Notes:

In my practice as an artist and designer, I am interested in exploring the relationships between humans and their surroundings. This installation is designed to function across two dimensions:

• Inward (Conceptual Inquiry): The work serves as a philosophical framework questioning how we define our connection to tools. It demonstrates that the value and definition of an object emerge not from the object itself, but from the relationships we establish between them.
• Outward (Social Engagement): In its pedagogical role, the work distills complex technological definitions into fundamental sensory experiences. The question-based labels, rooted in physical limitations, invite visitors to explore their own potential through human invention.

'Technology and the Six Senses Table' exists in the space between a system of knowledge and a mode of inquiry. It invites visitors to engage according to their own experiences and perceptions, whether through structural study or the observation of new connections in everyday objects from their own perspective.

Credits:

Presented by Pohpunpanya Foundation

Location Nantha Sippakhan Learning Center, Nan, Thailand

Team

• Design & Creative Direction: Orn Rajsirisongsri, Saranont Limpananont
• Content Development: Studio Aeroplane
• Curation: Studio Aeroplane, Rakluke Edutex
• Production: Rakluke Edutex
• Illustration: ZeroTwo Studio
• Text: Studio Aeroplane, Rakluke Edutex
• Editorial: Studio Aeroplane