Imitation of Life

Interdisciplinary IAD Module Spring 2019, in cooperation with biodesignchallenge.org

Instructors

IAD:
Joëlle Bitton
Clemens Winkler

The module takes place over 4 months, preparation phase 18.02.2019 to 28.05.2019 and final challenge 20/21.06.2019.
See timetable below for detailed hours and classrooms. 

Students

Duy Bui <duy.bui@zhdk.ch>
Jennifer Duarte  <jennifer.duarte@zhdk.ch>
Michelle Schmid  <michelle.schmid@zhdk.ch>
Mara Weber <mara.weber@zhdk.ch>
Colin Schmid  <colin.schmid@zhdk.ch>
Janina Tanner <janina.tanner@zhdk.ch>

Overview and Objectives: Imitation of Life

The course is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Interaction Design, ZHdK and the biodesignchallenge in NYC. Other collaborations will be involved. Within the topic “Biodesign”, we discuss potential future interactions between the inert and the living materials, civic engagement with the environment around us, dissemination of scientific knowledge, bioethics. We propose to frame that with the term of Biodesign.

Living Materials

This course investigates ad-hoc design practices in wet biology and the articulation between living materials and inert materials. The scope of the investigation looks into the biosphere, such as oceanic conditions. Our approach is to ponder on life on Earth as an otherworldly, distant abstraction and to bring it back to a scale that can be more familiar and approachable, especially in the context of education. 

Structure

The course is structured with lectures, discussions, mentoring sessions, webinars, independent study blocks, as well as exercises showcasing methods from interaction design. In addition, we have online resources on the given Canvas E-Learning platform, visits in Labs and external experts joining us.

Objectives of the course

• Projects are conducted in an 3 teams of 2 students.
• Methods from various disciplines (interaction design, biotechnology, bioethics) are proposed and experimented with.
• Awareness of biotechnologies, ecology, human factors and possible ways of challenging them
• Proposal for possible realities including biodesign in the future through narratives and tangible probs
• The final outcome will be mainly a video to apply at Biodesignchallenge, including material experimentation, spatial settings, interviews, narratives, evaluation  be a performance, a public space installation,

Experts in the Zurich area:

1. Marc Dusseiller, is a Zurich-based artist, scientist, hacker, instructor, and co-founder of Hackteria
2. Andy Gracie, is a London and Barcelona-based artist and also a co-founder of Hackteria 
3. Dr. Yaakov Benenson, is a biologist and chemist and professor at ETH Zurich
4. Dr. Martin Fusseneggeris a professor of Biotechnology and Bioengineering at ETH Zurich
Dates:

Methods

Through a set of workshop sessions, we will look at Biodesign for social, ecological systems, nearer material environments, the personal/intimate space, and of the human body down to bacterial levels

Materials as Mediators
Materials surround us all the time, even if we tend to ignore it through our everyday habits, like on our digital journeys around the globe, we are still constantly immersed in it. What about their certain properties, conditions and transformations constituting the space around us? Like the air and atmosphere as a phenomena, we inspire (from latin breathing in) and respirate, we speak through, we form our intimate atmospheres, we can observe this medium on various scales, might it be observing pollutants in the sky down to our microbial clouds surrounding us all the time. By manipulating and co-creating with these material conditions, we learn to play with underlying systems.
link: https://zkm.de/en/event/2011/06/experiencing-atmospheres-dimensions-of-a-diffuse-phenomenon

Design Speed Dating

Expectations and Gradings

Timetable

Biodesign Challenge 2019
https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1303989/pages/important-dates?module_item_id=19533043

December 21st:
Regular Registration Closes


Name of Lecturers in brackets {} jb: Joëlle Bitton, cw: Clemens Winkler

Teams

• "How to sense extraterrestrial spaces through Biotechnology (other forms of life)?" (Michelle, Duy)
  link:

• “Wearable Air Filters in Clothes?” (Janina, Mara)
  link:

• “Making pathogens visible in hospitals” (Jennifer, Colin)
  
  link:

Related Links: 

Dropbox Link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3ass1c1l8axlf6l/AACuAg5_gCQz7aH8tOJJ5iQRa?dl=0
Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j939TVnN3APLYAICn9pW-nmPba0tiTBy6WeA6AdovnM/edit?usp=sharing
Canvas Link: https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1303989/pages/

Literature/References