Smiles in Motion , by Danish artists Kjell Yngve Petersen & Karin Søndergaard, are a set of chairs designed for augmented relationships between two people, enabling them to converse with each other by turning speech into movement.

Speech and sounds produced in the audible spectrum by the two visitors are converted into vibrations, through motors placed in the seats of the chairs. As a visitor is perceiving what is spoken in the form of vibrations, he is also shown the mouth of the other visitor on a monitor fixed in a globe. The visitors “hear” each other through vibrations, synchronized with the images of the movements of their mouths. And so may converse through vibrations and smiles.

Smiles in Motion is on part of a series of installations which include also Mirrechophone, I think You – You think Me, and The Different Stories of a Bride and Groom.