On 10th and 11th of November, in the Laboratory of Interactive Multimedia Installations, were presented the Multi-Touch Projects 2011. The most important of them was “Hermafrodita” - a multimedia installation that allows users to explore, in an interactive way, contents related to the sphere of intersexuality through a Multi-Touch Table, also known as TableTop. The contents include text, photo and video information related to the hermaphrodite universe.

On the multi-touch screen there are six flowing circles, with a phrase around each of them to give an idea about the content inside. Marcelo Teixeira, a Multimedia Design Master student, says that “a major advantage of the installation is that it offers the possibility of being used by two persons at the same time, each of them being able to watch, zoom and rotate the selected contents from a different angle”.

Though it is unexpected to some visitors, the photo and video materials are more like a metaphor and have an indirect connection with the Hermaphrodite topic. “We wanted people not only to come, watch and go, we try to make them a part of it, to incite them to interact and, most of all, reflect on the reality of this subject. The generally accepted terms of "normal" - the feminine and masculine – are shaken, and all of us should understand a little bit better the gap between body, gender and identity”, explained Silvia Ferreira, Quarta Parede actress.

The main objective of the project is to establish a mutual relationship between the scientific research and the artistic creation, through the direct interaction with the available technological support, which facilitates and encourages the public’s participation.

The project, started in March, and it’s a co-production between Quarta Parede and the Multimedia Design Master of the Beira Interior University.  During the Exhibition, the students had the opportunity to present some other multimedia projects, like Multi-Touch Games, using the TableTop.