Projektmodul / Project Module
Light
Instructor: Prof. Martin Hesselmeier
Credits: 18 ECTS, 16 SWS
Capacity: max. 14 students
Language: english, deutsch
Date: Plenum: Tuesdays, 09:30-12:45; Consultations by appointment
Location: Online/Marienstraße 7b,104
First Meeting: 15.04.2025, 09:15
(More information regarding the first meeting will be sent to accepted participants by email.)
BISON Course

Open Photonics Makerspace

"Light is the first condition of all visibility."

This project module is dedicated to the topic of light as an artistic and creative material. Light is omnipresent: it makes things visible, yet it is transparent itself. It lends spaces tranquillity, creates spatial presence, and makes spaces disappear. It is both representation and a means of representation – a fascinating material for artists and designers.

Digital technologies enable us to think of light in dynamic, responsive, and interactive ways, challenging us to develop new forms and modes of interaction.

Cooperation

A cooperation and joint exhibition with the Lichtwerkstatt Jena at the Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, is planned.

The makerspace works at the interface of knowledge and technology transfer between research, industry, and the regional maker community.

Together with this community of students, scientists, and hobbyists, ideas are to be exchanged, experimented with, developed, and prototyped in a hackathon format. The aim is to develop the potential of the interdisciplinary perspectives of art, design, technology, and research on the topic of light and create new approaches.

Background & Participation

The Open Photonics Makerspace project module ties in with the “Enacted photons – exploring light as an artistic medium” module offered in the winter semester 2024/25, creating a new and further development of the work.

Open to all interested participants, even without prior technical knowledge.
Prerequisite: Completion of one accompanying Fachmodul:
- Physical Computing (Brian Larson Clark)
- Re/Generative Art + Design (Lotta Stöver)

Funding

The cooperation between Bauhaus University Weimar and Friedrich Schiller University Jena is funded by the Bauhaus University Weimar’s Creative Fund: “Open Photonics – Light at the Intersection of Art and Science.”

Registration

Registration via the BISON portal
Additionally, send a short letter of motivation (interest in the course, choice of Fachmodul, knowledge level, background) to:

martin.hesselmeier@uni-weimar.de

Certificate of Achievement

Regular attendance and participation
Participation in excursions, interim, and final presentations
Participation in the jointly organised exhibition at the end of the semester
Presentation of the work/project in the final presentation of the Interface Design professorship

Project documentation is required during the lecture-free period until the end of the semester as:

Work file
Film in MP4 format

Syllabus (subject to change)

09:30-12:45h, Marienstraße 7 B - Seminarroom 104

15.04.2025 Welcome, Introduction, Course Organization

22.04.2025 Talk to me I - History

29.04.2025 Talk to me II - Now

06.05.2025 free work (no official class)

13.05.2025 Plenum 1,

13.05.2025 19h Artist Talk by Lyoudmila Milanova

20.05.2025 Projectwork

21.-22.05.2025 Workshop: Shaper Origin by Christoph Noe

27.05.2025 Projectwork

03.06.2025 Plenum 2, Midterm Presentations, Guest critic by Prof. Andreas Muxel

11.-13.06.2025 Excursion Haus Rosenbaum

17.06.2025 individual consultations, Projectwork

24.06.2025 individual consultations, Projectwork

01.07.2025 Final Presentation

08.07.2025 preparation summaery 2025

10.07.-13.07.2025 Summaery 2025

Platforms and Tools

This Wiki
BigBlueButton
Mattermost Please CLICK HERE to get an introduction to mattermost
Figma

Literature

Design noir : the secret life of electronic objects / Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby 2001, ISBN 3764365668
Designing Objects in Motion / Kensho Miyoshi ISBN 303561931X
Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology ISBN 0262521121
Dinge und Undinge: Phänomenologische Skizzen, Vilém Flusser ISBN 3446239405
Designing interactions / Bill Moggridge 2007, ISBN 9780262134743
Waves - the Art of the Electromagnetic Society / Hartware MedienKunstVerein 2008 ISBN 9780387764641
Vom Experiment zur Idee : die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts im Zeichen von Wissenschaft und Technologie ; Analysen, Dokumente, Zukunftsperspektiven / Davis, Douglas 1975 ISBN 3770108116
The design of everyday things / Norman, Donald A. 1990 ISBN 0385267746
Uncanny Interfaces / Hg. Konstantin Daniel Haensch, Lara Nelke, Matthias Planitzer, 2019 ISBN 9783864852176
Jeff Johnson: Designing with the Mind in Mind / 2014 Link