Lecturers:

Dr Joëlle Bitton
Johannes Reck

Guest inputs:
Luke Franzke
Lucy Dukes

Lucy Dukes' Bio: Lucy is a transdisciplinary artist and philosopher, working site-specifically and collaboratively to explore more-than-human entanglements in the Anthropocene. Gaining her MA in Art & Science from Central Saint Martins, she is currently UAL Art for the Environment artist-in-residence at Groundwork Gallery, UK.

Office hours by appointment

The course runs from 14.11.23 - 22.12.23, from 9.00 - 17.00. See Timetable for more detailed hours.

Overview and Objectives

The course proposes an examination and speculation of technologies as they relate to forms of Embodied Interaction, ie. mobility, corporality, physical and sensorial interfaces, materiality and body as interfaces, immersive experiences.
This examination 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.
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.

During this module, we'll uncover some of these possibilities by designing and informing our bodily environment increasingly influenced by data tracking. By group work (3-4 students max), you'll propose interactive forms of body extension/representation/mirror/sense.

Design factors should include:

• material intimacy
• processes of fabrication
• data tracking & mapping / generative design
• wearability or extension or external or sensorial apparatus
• performative aspects
• interactive components
• political / environmental / societal context

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

Your work will encounter some of these research questions:

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?

Expectations and Gradings

Grades will be based on group presentations and exercises, class participation, documentation (journal) and final work.
Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation.
Attendance to inputs a is required. Two or more unexcused absences will affect the final grade. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Final Presentation 40%

Assignments/presentations 30%

Journal Documentation 20%

Class participation 10%

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.

Deliverables

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 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 interactions with your environment? Can a short sample offer a complex 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: Listening Collection
Collection Exercise III: Material Collection, Demo & Booklet
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 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 (prep a booklet to share - presentation is oral based/no slides):
-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
+rarity, waste, off-the-shelf, availability, function, unfunction, forms of fabrication, etc...

In-class Exercises, Performances & Weekly progress reviews (bring iterated prototype/sketches/experiments for each mentoring)
Mid-Class Delivery: Booklet 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
Use Data-Collection, Generative Design Methods and Digital Fabrication to create an 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?
In groups of 3-4 students
Final Presentation & Performance: Students present with their group an Exhibition of Experiments & Performance with Final Prototypes together with an oral presentation.
Presentation on: 21.12.22
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)

Course outline

Timetable 2023

Student Teams & Journals

Group 1 - Entanglement

Tanja
Lars
Luis
Audrey

Group 2 - Political Space / Collaborative Performance

Marc
PJ
Loic
Carina

Group 3 - Process based iteration

Benjamin
Lukman

Group 4 - Perception

Mo
Elena
Lea
Michaela

Journals Readings

Embodied Interaction: Exploring the Foundations of a New Approach to HCI

http://acadia.org/papers

Creating physical visualizations with makervis

Supporting the design and fabrication of physical visualizations

https://issuu.com/pabloherrera/docs/algorithmicmodelling

Related Projects (small selection)

Visualisation

Magnetic Movie

Technorama Building (analog wind visualization)

Experimental study of apparent behavior

Study for Fifteen Points

Parametric design and Digital Fabrication for Inflatables

Fashion context

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/336573772141747181/

http://behnazfarahi.com/bodyscape/

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/564779609510964664/

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/563794447076862696/

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/miura-ori-skin/

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/288511919858286303/

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/rottlace/overview/

Data

https://driesdepoorter.be/thefollower/ (Revealing hidden information)
https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/ (data experienceable)

Tools and Software

Rhino 6.0 Trial for Windows or Rhino 5.2 for Mac (90 Day test license) including Grasshopper
https://shiftr.io/
Skanect (3d scanning with kinect)
Meshmixer (editing meshes)

Tools available: 3D printer (Ultimaker, Delta, Cetus, Single-line), laser cutter, foam cutter, wire bender, photogrammetry....