1st of February - 4th February
Group: Maria Shuttleworth, Huijie Xiong, Sanya Nayar, Kate Chernysheva
Group: Maria Shuttleworth, Huijie Xiong, Sanya Nayar, Kate Chernysheva
BRIEF: Design a digital & physical object that prehends its surroundings.
WORKSHOP
This week we were introduced to the concept of prehension by Tyler Fox, a guest lecturer from the University of Washington, whose primary interest is in nonhuman relations and how it shapes our experience of the surrounding world and our relationship to it.
Before the introductory workshop with Tyler we began exploring the concept of Object Oriented Ontology (OOO), which is a study that focuses closely on the perspective of non-living things, their relation to the world and how they interact with it, their existence. I found the reading extremely helpful for the development of my theoretical knowledge as well the brief we were focusing on this week. I was familiar with the examples given by J.Lindley, H.Akmal and P.Coulton, who represent Lancaster University, which also happens to be my alma mater. Polly the Kettle and Living Room of the Future, as I have seen them myself, really helped me to grasp this concept and be excited for the project ahead.
Polly the Kettle and Livingroom of the future. Images taken from online sources.
This also resonated with Phenomenology that is similarly concerned with being, founded by German philosophers Martin Heidegger and Edmund Husserl. Unlike semiotics, it doesn’t focus on meanings and interpretations. It aims to identify and lay aside the pre judgments to attempt to describe the key features of the human experiences and structure of consciousness. OOO, on the other hand, does this in regards to objects, setting the anthropocentristic beliefs aside. This link has helped to build my understanding of this topic.
Later on, Tyler joined us to share some of his work, what he does and talk us through the idea of prehension. Tyler described prehension, referring to Whitehead, as non cognitive grasp of experience. Hence, the brief invited us to consider the following questions:
“How does your object prehend the spaces and other objects around it? How can it be understood as relational? How is it prehended telesethetically?”
REFLECTION
This workshop and the reading provided a strong theoretical base for me in order to tackle the project. However, the structure of the session with Tyler was Q&A based, which was a little bit difficult for me personally as I felt like I didn’t know enough about the topic, hence I found myself wondering about everything yet unable to ask something specific which made me feel a little at a disadvantage. This was contrasting to previous week’s workshop with Susan, which was very intense in terms of content and input from her. Nevertheless, I was excited to get started and dive into the topic from a practical point of view.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
demaray (2014). FloraBorg Community Update: 3 IndaPlants Up And Running. [online] elizabethdemaray. Available at: https://elizabethdemaray.org/2014/07/31/floraborg-community-update-3-indaplants-up-and-running/ [Accessed 1 Mar. 2021].
Akiyama, K. (n.d.). Digital Animism: Through Looking at the Meaning within Noise | Interactive Architecture Lab. [online] Available at: http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/digital-animism-through-looking-at-the-meaning-within-noise.html [Accessed 1 Mar. 2021].
Blanchard, C.C.V., McGlashan, H.L., French, B., Sperring, R.J., Petrocochino, B. and Holmes, N.P. (2017). Online Control of Prehension Predicts Performance on a Standardized Motor Assessment Test in 8- to 12-Year-Old Children. Frontiers in Psychology, [online] 8, p.374. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28360874/ [Accessed 1 Mar. 2021].
Human Centered Design & Engineering. (2016). Tyler Fox, PhD. [online] Available at: https://www.hcde.washington.edu/fox [Accessed 1 Mar. 2021].
Akiyama, K., 2017. Digital Animism: Through Looking at the Meaning within Noise | Interactive Architecture Lab. [online] Interactivearchitecture.org. Available at: <http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/digital-animism-through-looking-at-the-meaning-within-noise.html> [Accessed 1 March 2021].
Donaldson, M., 2017. Plutchik’s Wheel Of Emotions — 2017 Update • Six Seconds. [online] Six Seconds. Available at: <http://www.6seconds.org/2017/04/27/plutchiks-model-of-emotions/> [Accessed 1 Mar. 2021].
Lindley, J., Akmal, H. and Coulton, P., 2019. Design Research and Object-Oriented Ontology. Open Philosophy.
Mu Design. 2021. Lua — Mu Design. [online] Available at: <https://mu-design.lu/lua#in-more-detail> [Accessed 1 Mar. 2021].
Images:
https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/85080/1/OOO_Full_paper.pdf
https://cisweb.lancaster.ac.uk/img/cwip/cisweb.lancaster.ac.uk/EventsMedia/Living%20Room%20of%20the%20Future%20(002)-636760849132205141.jpg?mode=crop&width=874&height=289¢er=0.50%2C0.50