For years, literary studies have mistakenly portrayed reading as a purely mental, disembodied activity. Consequently, research on reading has primarily focused on its visual and cognitive aspects, ignoring the physicality involved in handling and reading a body text. However, with advancements in technology, it becomes possible to make the body – which is often overlooked and neglected in our current society – an explicit part of reading.
As technology progresses to become more tangible, portable, and collaborative, it's possible to constantly collect bodily data through sensors. In a virtual world where everything is flexible and adaptable, the body text can immediately respond to the human body, making it as changeable and mobile as the body reading it. The body text exists in a flow of time - changing through different body forms, postures, movements, and interactions - and becomes performative in nature.
The reading body and the body text engage in a dance for two, with the body text no longer positioned as an opponent but as a willing dance partner, supported by modern technologies. In addition to a graphic and spatial design (scenography), reading involves a sequence of steps, gestures, and movements (choreography). What can the reading body learn from the dancing body?
