Ecological Interaction FS2026: Interfacing the Ocean
Lecturers: Roman Kirschner, Karmen Franinovic and Luke Franzke Guest Lecturer: Rasa Smite
Assistant: Duy Bui Student Assistant: Schwarz Sacha
Immersive Art Space support: Martin Fröhlich
Students: Hatke Carlo carlo.hatke@zhdk.ch, Li Wangqing wangqing.li@zhdk.ch, Merminod Gaëtan gaetan.merminod@zhdk.ch, Näf Dominik dominik.naef@zhdk.ch, Pan Samantha samantha.pan@zhdk.ch, Somm Luca luca.somm@zhdk.ch, Zhang Dingyue dingyue.zhang@zhdk.ch, Dominic dominic.sutter@zhdk.ch, Lin Hsin-Yi hsinyi.lin@zhdk.ch
Contents and Objectives
The Ecological Interaction FS2026: Interfacing the Ocean studio is about the experience of immersion into underwater ocean ecologies. We will depart from research done within the Interfacing the Ocean research project, focusing on human condition underwater and multispecies ocean worlds that only remotely know the human.
Using qualitative and quantitative tools and techniques, including attunement, photogrammetry and environmental sensing, we will design experiences of ecological interactions on different scales. We will investigate the notion of immersion within natural and technological contexts.
The course is split in 3 parts: Fieldwork, Immersive Environment and Interactions. The field site is the bay of Valsaline in Pula, Croatia, the main site of Interfacing the Ocean research project. The final projects will be exhibited at the Ars Electronica Festival.
The course is done in cooperation with “Interfacing the Ocean” SNSF research project (2023-2028) https://ocean.zhdk.ch and Immersive Arts Space https://www.zhdk.ch/en/immersive-arts-space-10984 .
Schedule
PART 1. FIELDWORK
Week 1 : Preparation for Fieldwork
Monday (9.03.) 7.E02 | Tuesday | Wednesday (11.03.) 4.E08 | Thursday (12.03.) 5.F11 |
|---|---|---|---|
9.00 Introduction into topic, project and mode of the course (Karmen, Roman) Immersion underwater lecture (Karmen) 10.30 Immersive Climate Sensorium lecture (Rasa) | different class - Interaction Research 2 (workshop with Verena) | 4.E08 Practical photogrammetry (Rasa, Duy, Luke)
10:00 Intro 10:45 Installing software 11:00 First attempts outside 13:00 Processing 14:00 Exchanging first Results 15:00 Ideation and 2nd round recordings | Processing of recorded data - 3D models building, mapping and manipulating - 1st attempt to get data into visualisation software. |
5.F12 Roman lecture
(intro metashape for water drone, intro for air drone, intro gopro stereo)
| different class - Interaction Research 2 (workshop with Verena) | Fieldwork -Attempt - Photogrammetry and Gaussian splat generation of a scene along Limat. Attempt underwater Photogrammetry with GoPro (small area) -Record audio at locations -Experiment with Markers Experiment with different software tools: Phone applications: | “on immersion“ Lecture (Karmen) Ocean, human and non-human : Texts and Books (filer) |
Week 2: Fieldwork
Monday (30.03.) | Tuesday (31.03.) | Wednesday (1.04.) | Thursday (2.04.) |
|---|---|---|---|
9:00-12:00 | |||
17.00 walk Valsaline > Pizzeria Maximilian ? |
Collected Data and Photos: smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/MDE_VIA/Courses_2026_FS/Studio3_Ecological_Interactions/Fieldwork Pula
Week 3: Deliverable: Processed Fieldwork Data
Thursday (9.04.) 5.F11 |
09:00-12:00 |
13:00-17:00 3d model development and upload |
PART 2. IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENT
Week 4 Immersive Art Space
Environment development - Topic/Goal/Spatiality)
More details on course framework at IAS and shared folder - here: https://zhdkch-my.sharepoint.com/shared?id=%2Fsites%2FIAS%5FExternals%2D00%5FTeaching%2FFreigegebene%20Dokumente%2F2605%5FEcological%20Interaction&listurl=https%3A%2F%2Fzhdkch%2Esharepoint%2Ecom%2Fsites%2FIAS%5FExternals%2D00%5FTeaching%2FFreigegebene%20Dokumente
Monday (13.4.) | Tuesday (14.4.) | Wednesday (15.4) | Thursday (16.4) |
09:30 - 10:00 Space setup 10:00 - 11:00 Conversation on fieldwork in Pula, revisiting Sensorium (Rasa) 11:00 - 12:00 Introduction IAS (Martin) | 09:30 - 10:00 Space setup 10:00 - 12:00 Environment Development | 09:30 - 10:00 Space setup 09:00 - 12:00 Environment Development | 09:30 - 10:00 Space setup Environment Development |
13:00 - 14:30 Concept Brainstorming (with Karmen + Rasa) 14:30 - 15:00 Cleaning the space (15.00 space should be free - next group is coming) 15:00 - 17:00 Concept Development (Karmen) | 13:00 - 14:00 Environment / Projection Setup PRESENTATION (Martin, Rasa, Karmen) 15:00 - 15:30 Cleaning the space (15.30 space should be free) | 13:00 - 17:00 Model/Environment Development
| 13:00 - 15:00 Model/Environment Development 15:00 - 15:30 Cleaning the space |
Week 5 Immersive Art Space
Prototyping, Environment Development (Rules/Realisation))
Monday (20.4.) | Tuesday (21.4.) | Wednesday (22.4) | Thursday (23.4) |
09:30 - 10:00 Space setup 10:00 - 12:00 | 09:30 - 10:00 Space setup | 09:30 - 10:00 Space setup 10:00 - 12:00 | 09:30 - 10:00 Space setup 10:00 - 12:00 Project Development |
12:00 - 14:30 14:30 - 15:00 Cleaning the space 15:00 - 17:00 Project presentation for BA Spatial Interaction (with RK & VL at 4.K16, Karmen online) | 13:00 - 15:00 Model/Environment development 15:00 - 15:30 Cleaning the space | 13:00 - 15:00 15:00 - 15:30 Cleaning the space | 13:00 - 15:00 Project Development 15:00 - 15:30 Cleaning the space |
Week 6 Immersive Art Space
Prototyping, Environment Development
Monday (27.4.) | Tuesday (28.4.) | Wednesday (29.4) | Thursday (30.4) |
09:00 - 12:00 Model/Environment | 12:30-13:30 Model/Environment PRESENTATION | 09:00 - 12:00 Duy mentoring | 10:00-12:00 Development |
13:00 - 17:00 Model/Environment | 15:00 - 17:00 Development | 15:00 - 17:00 Roman mentoring | 13:00 - 15:00 Documentation |
PART 3. INTERACTIONS
Week 7
Prototype development (Werkstatt-Modelbau)
Monday (4.5.) 5.F03 | Tuesday (5.5.) 5.F03 | Wednesday (6.5) 6.F01 | Thursday (7.5) |
10:30 - 12:30 Ecologies and Histories of Valsaline (Karmen, Roman) | 09:00 - 12:00 Concept Development | 09:00 - 12:00 Concept Development | Free Project Development |
13:00 - 17:00 Concept Development | 13:00 - 14:30 Presentation & Discussion of BA projects 4.T48 14:30 - 17:00 Environment Development | 13:00 - 17:00 Concept Presentation | Free Project Development |
Week 8
Prototype development (Werkstatt-Modelbau)
Monday (18.5.) | Tuesday (19.5.) | Wednesday (20.5) |
Free Project Development | 09:00 - 12:00 Prototype Development | 09:00 - 12:00 Prototype |
Free Project Development | 13:00 - 14:30 | 13:00 - 17:00 Prototype |
Week 9: Prototype development
Wednesday (27.5) 7.E02 | Tuesday (28.5.) |
09:00-12:00 | iteration of prototypes |
Week 10
EXHIBITION development
Monday (1.6) 5.F12 | Tuesday (2.6) 4.T37 | Wednesday (3.6) 7.E02 | Thursday (4.6) 4.T07 |
09:00 - 12:00 Introduction IAS | 09:00 - 12:00 Environment Development | 09:00 - 12:00 Concept Brainstorming and Presentation | Project Development |
13:00 - 17:00 Environment Development | 13:00 - 17:00 Environment Development | 13:00 - 17:00 Project Development | 13:00 - 15:00 Project Development |
Week 10
EXHIBITION development
Monday (8.6) 4.T30 | Tuesday (9.6) 5.F12 | Wednesday (10.6) 4.T06 | Thursday (11.6) |
09:00 - 12:00 FINAL Presentation | DOCUMENTATION | ||
Materials
Hazer, overhead projector, short throw projectors all available at Leihs, for the hazer a permission slip has to be filled out at Empfang, not all rooms are suitable for use of hazer
Equipment
3 * Gopro Hero 6 * Dive housing
Insta 360 * dive housing
Drone-Set CHASING M2 Underwater ROV with 4K video (light included)
GoproMount
Drone-Set SwellPro Spry+ waterproof with 4K video
Hydrophones + Recorder
SUP
Zoom- Recorders ?
PC-Laptop for Windows photogrammetry software
Order Harddisks, SD cards
What to bring to Pula:
Camera, Adapter (power plug)
Diving option everybody on Mo (30th april) → ask Tonis
Deliverables and Documentation
1. Final Prototype or Intervention
2. Final Presentation
3. Standard IAD Documentation (see handbook on wiki):
Text file including the project title, names of students and mentors, a short description (250 - 400 characters ), and a long description (>1000 characters ), in a file to be labelled “Texts”
At least 10 representative images of the project (to be stored in a file labelled “Images”)
One longer video (< 5 minutes) of the project (to be stored in a file labelled “Video”). Mp4 full HD, see wiki for more details on format.
One to two short social media teaser videos (20-30 seconds) in portrait format.
A PDF documentation (to be stored in a file labelled “Documentation”)
Additional raw data, e.g., presentation, prototypes, or codes (to be stored in the respective file).
Upload your documentation files to:
4. Documentation of Exercises: smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/MDE_VIA/Courses_2026_FS/Studio3_Ecological_Interactions
Upload your scans to: smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/MDE_VIA/Courses_2026_FS/Studio3_Ecological_Interactions