Lecturers:
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The course runs from 12.11.24 - 20.12.24, from 9.00 - 17.00. See Timetable for more detailed hours.
Overview and Objectives
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Our body is our interface with others: humans, non-humans, nature, infrastructure, machines.... We interact with the world through our senses, our mind, our limbs, our movements, our emotions.... We constantly leave traces, visible or invisible, conscious or unconscious... In turn, the world around us impacts our selves, shapes our perceptions; technology transforms our physicality, provides body extensions; materials mediate our experiences, etc.
And yet, the body is not often addressed as a primary factor in designing interactive experiences. This course proposes in turn to put the physical body at the center point of our ideation - in a literal way, by designing on it, with it, for it, because of it.
What if we could design a body extension and a movement that reveals some of these interactions and that alters the physical world?
In order to create this experience, we propose an examination and speculation of design factors that emphasise embodiment and physicality: we use personal data, wearability, materials & technologies as they relate to forms of Embodied Interaction, ie. wearability, mobility, corporality, physical and sensorial interfaces, materiality and body as interfaces, fabrication processes, technologies and movements to ground the story we tell.
Forms of embodied Interaction can include wearables, mobile interfaces, corporeal devices, sensorial interfaces, interactive materials, immersive experiences, etc.
This examination In this design process, we also include societal, ethical and social influences.The course puts also an emphasis on 'Embodied Fabrication', where digital fabrication methods are approached from the perspective of embodiment.
In parallel, we have now access to processes that facilitate an even greater tangible interaction with bits & atoms, between the analog/physical and the digital/programmed: interactive modes of digital fabrication, data-tracking, physical computing, generative design, AI-driven outputs, biodesign, material affordances...we thus have the opportunity to investigate ways that we can transform our physical selves and environments.
*And as materials and data that are used in interaction design become more easily entangled with our visions, we also ask questions of extraction, and human and environmental impacts.
By group work (2-4 students max), you'll propose interactive forms of body extension/representation/mirror/sense.
The course is divided into 6 weeks:
- Week 1: Data Collection. Understanding the topic, context and possibilities
- Week 2: Material collection, experimentations and first prototype
- Week 3: Fabrication, advancing prototypes
- Week 4: Fabrication, advancing prototypes & first performance
- Week 5: Production & performative engagement
- Week 6: Final production, finalising details & Documentation
Questions to cover in your design process:
how tech influences-changes-permeates the body, note about increasing scarcity of resources, AI for prototyping/imagining/generating data
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add first sentence on the syllabus that states the point of the course in terms of meaning, purpose: ie "we move through our life with body and mind...." how does that data, materials and tech help us see the wide spectrum of movements, and presence to ourselves, attention or reverse the sentence.. how this allows us to understand better how we can process info, materials,
With more flexible and more accessible modes of fabrication and of generative design, and with interactive aspects of materiality and biodesign emerging in recent years, we have the opportunity to investigate ways that we can transform our physical selves and environments. Also, as materials that are used in interaction design become more easily entangled with our visions, we also ask questions of extraction, and human and environmental impacts.
This course will let us through a journey of interfacing the analog and the digital, with the body as mediator between the two.
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The course is divided into 6 weeks:
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Your work will encounter some of these research questions : (review questions/factors below)
- Define your own meaning of an interaction that is 'embodied'
- How does that translate with materials?
- What are the possible interactive experiences with materials?
- What tools/technology can be used to facilitate this process?
- In what ways does material influence the perception of data?
- How is digital fabrication influencing embodied interaction?
Questions to consider in your process:
- What drives the design? (example: is it functional, speculation or critique)
- Where could the data come from? (example: sensors)
- How do you map the data to a geometry? (example: using a metaphor)
- Or is the form making process inspired by existing models? (example: fungus, cell division, mathematical geometry,…)
- What are the materials used? What are their properties, lifecycle, etc
- What is the fabrication process?
- What does your body extension connect with the surrounding environment?
- What does it embody?
- What meanings does it create?
- Design factors should include:
• material intimacy
• processes of fabrication
• data tracking & mapping / generative design / AI components
• wearability or extension or external or sensorial apparatus
• performative aspects
• interactive components
• political / environmental / societal context
Expectations and Gradings
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Collection Exercise I: Analogue Data Collection
Look for sources of your personal body data in the real world. What traces do we leave behind that give us indications about our movements, vital signs interactions or emotions?
Be aware of the data you're collecting without intention. Or are you currently collecting data intentionally?
Is there a type of data that reveals something specific about your life, your complex patterns of interactions with your environment? Can a short sample offer a complex nuanced reflection?
Your survey has to comprehend at least 6 hours of tracking and showcase a complex aspect of your entangled life (beyond a specific quantity tracking).
Think of questions you want to answer before you start tracking.Record videos or take photos to indicate and attempt to extract the data or reflect on it.
Represent that data in a performative way the day after.Presentation/performance: max 2 minutes - you can invite the audience to take part, use props, etc
Individual work
- Collection Exercise II: Sensory and Listening Collection
- Collection Exercise III: Material Material Collection, Demo & BookletMiro board info
In advance, select materials you want to experiment with: biomaterials, minerals, off-the-shelf, chemicals, liquids, growing, reactive, decaying, static, states, duration, texture, smell, taste, touch, etc
Bring them for a collective experimental day, list characteristics, qualities and behaviours and determine which interface and interactive experience could be derived from its properties - you will also demo how the material you chose can inspire an interaction, interface, experience..
As you present and demo properties, cover this info (add all the info on Miro board the day before the workshop - present a short selection):
-where the material comes from,
-how it has been extracted,
-by whom (labor involved),
-their lifecycle,
-their history,
-their trade,
-their legislation,
-their price value,
-their exploitation,
-their environmental impact
-their affordances
+rarity, waste, off-the-shelf, availability, affordance, function, unfunction, forms of fabrication, etc...
- In-class Exercises, Performances & Weekly progress reviews (bring iterated prototype/sketches/experiments for each mentoring)
- Mid-Class Delivery: PDF showcasing concept, prototype & inspirations
PDF featuring texts and visuals: Overall Concept, Main directions, Inspirations/Related Work (references, authors, dates, visuals), Material inquiries, and Prototype - Final Project: Interactive embodied fabricated apparatus
FInal version of your work iterated on for several weeks. Use Data-Collection, Generative Design Methods and Digital Fabrication to create an interactive interactive body apparatus (wearable, fashion item, prosthesis, orthesis, prosthetics, implant, extension, external apparatus, architecture, etc).
Questions to consider in your process:
What drives the design? (example: is it functional, speculation or critique) - Where could the data come from? (example: sensors)
- How do you map the data to a geometry? (example: using a metaphor)
- Or is the form making process inspired by existing models? (example: fungus, cell division, mathematical geometry,…)
- What are the materials used? What are their properties, lifecycle, etc
- What is the fabrication process?
- What does your body extension connect with the surrounding environment?
- What does it embody?
- What meanings does it create?
Final Presentation & Performance: Students present with their group an Exhibition of Experiments & Performance with Final Prototypes together with an oral presentation.
Presentation on: 19.12.24
- Documentation
- A 'Journal' is developed by each group of students that reflects on experiments and learnings from the course. It should be in the form of an online blog (ie. WordPress, Tumblr or other):
- The journal should be structured in a generally comprehensible manner
- The lecture notes, including annotations, are stored
- Notes, sketches for each lesson should be included as well
- Final Documentation per usual guidelines: title, authors, abstract, hi-res pics, PDF with commentary text, video documentation (see Wiki)
- A 'Journal' is developed by each group of students that reflects on experiments and learnings from the course. It should be in the form of an online blog (ie. WordPress, Tumblr or other):
In groups of 32-4 students
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