Lecturers:
...
The course runs from 12.11.24 - 20.12.24, from 9.00 - 17.00. See Timetable for more detailed hours.
PROPOSED UPDATES BY J.RECK
THIS COLOR WAS CURRENT VERSION - THIS COLOR IS PROPOSED VERSION
Overview and Objectives
We move through life with body and mind as an interconnected whole; this course invites you to explore how data, materials, and technology reveal the wide spectrum of movements and presence, deepening our attention to ourselves and our environment. Through this lens, we examine technologies as they relate to forms of Embodied Interaction—mobility, corporality, sensory interfaces, materiality, and the body as an interface.
We constantly leave traces, visible or invisible, conscious or unconscious... In turn, the world around us impacts our selves - shapes our perceptions.
...
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. Measures of data can reveal the wide spectrum of movements and presence, capturing forms of attention to ourselves and our environment.
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, fabrication processes, technologies and movements to ground the story we tell.
Forms of embodied Interaction can include wearables, mobile interfaces, corporeal devices, orthotics and prosthetics, sensorial interfaces, interactive materials, immersive experiences, tangible interfaces, etc.
In this design process, we also include societal, ethical and social influences.
In parallelIndeed, we now face a convergence of tools and processes that dramatically facilitate an even greater tangible interaction between bits & atoms, giving us access to shape interfaces between the analog/physical and the digital/programmed: interactive modes of digital fabrication, data-tracking, sensors, physical computing, generative design, AI-driven outputs, ML tools, biodesign, material affordances...we thus have the opportunity to investigate ways that we can transform our physical selves and environments: this is how we describe Embodied Fabrication.
*And as materials and data that are used in interaction design become more easily entangled with our visions, they bring forth questions about resource scarcity, environmental impact, we also ask and the societal narratives we construct through design. We should therefore include 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.During this module, we’ll explore the analog-digital interface with the body as the mediator and examine technology’s impact on bodily perception, movement, and awareness. Through group work (2-4 students max), you’ll propose interactive forms of body extension, representation, mirroring, or sensing, with attention to what narratives your design choices create.The starting point of your design can be a feeling, a story, a movement, an interaction, a case study, a sensor, a technology, data, material, or scarcity. This course is about understanding what drives your design directions, encouraging you to reflect on how these inspirations shape your process and the embodied interactions you envision.
The course is divided into 6 weeks:
- Week 1: Data & Sensing Collection. Understanding the topic, context and possibilitiesUnderstanding the topic, context, and possibilities,
including technological impact on body awareness - Week 2: Material collection, experimentations and first prototype
Material collection, experimentations, sensing, and first prototype
w/ with attention to material scarcity, environmental & social impact, and resource-conscious design. - Week 3: Fabrication, advancing prototypes
Fabrication, advancing prototypes
using digital fabrication and data w/ focus on validity of core design choices - Week 4: FabricationFabrication, advancing prototypes & first performance
Fabrication, advancing prototypes & first performance w/ actuations
following analysis of the interplay bodily / sensory responses and movement inspired by design / material. - Week 5: Production & performative embodied engagement
Production & performative engagement, including shaping /understanding emerging narrative of final performanceproposal - Week 6: Final production, finalising details & Documentation
Final production, finalizing details & Documentation. Putting it all together ending w/ reflection on the project & process.
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
how does movement influence body/mind and vice-versa,
how tech/clothing can influence movement - what meaning does it give, what mindset.. philosophy, how : s it make you see the world? interact with it, with others, with yourself?
framing sensory exercise as attention - situated awareness - at different levels (seeing things at scale of dog)
add reflections on observations
push more fabrication and validity of concept
show process of fab in the material workshop
mental setting - recognize own feelings, own mindset - how a particular item influences the body, how the information is processed by the body (a light, a space, a person next to me, reading the news) - how does it affect the body, how does that create a performance,
what is the story you tell, what output makes sense,
what movement does the wearable creates, how does the body behave, mind?
in a discussion, ask them something in their lives that they would label as embodied - mind shows through body
analysis of performance - asking them questions after catwalk, etc... - what worked, what didn't
avoid types of projects basic, literal, not layered, too hiding behind choreographic - how to explain that?
the starting point can be a feeling, a story, a movement, an interaction, a storyline, a case study, a sensor, a tech, a data, a material, scarcity - what drives your inspiration, your process? > this course is about understanding what drives your design directions..
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,
Your work will encounter some of these research questions (review questioans/factors below)
Some of the following questions should be covered in your design process:
- 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 materials help express that interaction?
- How does technology influence, change, or permeate the body, and in what ways is this shaped by increasing resource scarcity?
- How can ML tools for prototyping, imagining, or generating data affect our design approaches to embodied interaction?
- How does technology, including wearable design or clothing, impact movement, mindset, or perception, and how does this shift one’s interaction with self, others, and the environment?
- In what ways do movement and physicality affect the connection between body and mind, and how does this relationship inform design?
- What is the impact of situational or mental awareness—recognizing one’s feelings or mindset—on the way objects, spaces, or environments are perceived or processed by the body?
- How does an item or space affect bodily perception and performance, and what does this reveal about embodied interactions?
- How do wearables or bodily apparatuses shape bodily movement and behavior, and in turn, influence mental and emotional states?
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)
Where does the data originate, and how does it connect to the embodied experience (e.g., sensors, environmental data, self-generated data)? How do you map the data to a geometry? (example: using a metaphor) - How do you map or translate the data into a meaningful physical form (e.g., using metaphor, narrative, or situational relevance)?
Or is the form making process inspired by existing models? (example: fungus, cell division, mathematical geometry,…)
(would remove this one) - How did bodily feedback during performance shape your design choices / made you adapt your design?
- What are the materials used? What are their properties, lifecycle, etc
What materials are chosen, and what considerations of their properties, life cycle, or scarcity shape the design? - What is the fabrication process? What does your body extension connect with the surrounding environment?
- How do movement and performance inspire your design choices?
- How does your design interact with the surrounding environment, and what relationships does it reveal?
- What does it embody?
What does the design embody in terms of sensory experience, movement, or mindset?
What meanings does it create?
What meanings, narratives, or mental shifts does it your apparatus aim to evoke create, provoke, transform in the wearer / person persons interacting / observer?
OR What narrative or story does the design communicate, and what types of outputs create meaningful interactions within that story? - What led you to the final performance - what made you choose the aspects of it? (Sound, Setting, Participants, Randomness/Chance vs. Structure, Light)
- How do you relate to the design emotionally - how does/did the creation process influence your relationship to the material / fabrication / data / topic? Design factors should include:observers...?
data ground your narrative?
Design factors should include:
• a starting point of your design: perception, story, movement, interaction, case study, sensor, tech, data, material, scarcity....
• material intimacy
• processes of
...
fabrication
• data tracking & mapping / generative design / AI components
• wearability
...
, extension
...
, external or sensorial apparatus
• performative/corporeal/movements aspects
• interactive components
• political / environmental / societal context
Expectations and Gradings
...
- In-class Exercises, Reflections, Performances-analysis & 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 embodied body apparatus apparatus / embodied performative experience (wearable, fashion item, prosthesis, orthesis, prosthetics, implant, extension, external apparatus, architecture, etc) and showcase in a performance or situation how the apparatus influences movement , & transforms interaction with oneself, others, environment, etc...
In groups of 2-4 students
Final Presentation & Performance: Students present with their group an Exhibition of Experiments & Performance/Situation 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):
...