What gesture do we use the most in our daily lives? It is the finger interacting with the screen of a smartphone, used to translate human impulse into digital manifestation. However, these finger gestures are barely noticed themselves due to the fast response of the software.

The smartphone is an artificially produced non-living thing, which glides through the air when thrown and folds when folded. Living things such as fingers are different: they can flinch when kicked and resist when thrown. When using the smartphone, we tend to only pay attention to the inanimate response value of the non-living thing, rather than the direct engagement and movement of the living fingers. The difference between the non-living smartphone and living fingers is autonomy. The Intangible Performance invites shifting perspective to recognise the smartphone too as a place of autonomy, where the meaning contained in the gestures of one’s fingers appear. Rather than only focusing attention on what appears on the smartphone screen, the project invites recognising the role of the finger gesture in recognising that. The Intangible Performance entails six machines that perform the movements of a person’s finger gestures on a smartphone screen for 90 seconds. The orchestral performance is the result of the otherwise invisible actions of a person’s fingers on the smartphone, drawing attention to how performance and creative choice lie where least expected.