Ecological Interaction FS2026: Interfacing the Ocean

Lecturers: Roman Kirschner, Luke Franzke and Karmen Franinovic 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.sutter@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

Week 2: Fieldwork

Week 3: Deliverable: Processed Fieldwork Data

PART 2. IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENT

Week 4 Immersive Art Space
Environment development (Topic/Goal/Spatiality), Prototyping, Ecology/Game Development (Rules/Realisation))

Week 5 Immersive Art Space
Concept development (Topic/Goal/Spatiality), Prototyping, Game Development (Rules/Realisation))

Week 6 Immersive Art Space
Concept development (Topic/Goal/Spatiality), Prototyping, Game Development (Rules/Realisation))

PART 3. INTERACTIONS

Week 7
Prototype development

Week 8: Deliverable: Processed Fieldwork Data

Week 9
EXHIBITION development

Week 10
EXHIBITION development

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

• https://www.xgrids.com/intl/portalcam

• 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/Fr/Sa (3rd,4th) → 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