Projektmodul / Project Module
Fantasy is Reality: Interfaces for Hanging in There
Instructor: Vertr.-Prof. Jason Reizner
Credits: 18 ECTS, 12 SWS
Capacity: max. 15 students
Language: English
Date: Plenum: Tuesdays, 13:30-18:30; Consultations: Wednesdays by appointment
Location: Online
First Meeting:13 April 2021, 13:30
(Link to online meeting will be sent to accepted participants by email.)
BISON Course ID: TBA
Description
Fantasy is reality in the world today
I'll keep hanging in there, that's the only way
–Parliament, 1970
Heavy times demand not only solidarity, ingenuity and resilience from us all, but also the capacity to fantasize a different existence thereafter. While societal disruptions resulting from armed conflict, natural disaster, famine and pandemic have accompanied homo sapiens sapiens since time immemorial, the world at present finds itself in the midst of the first generation of ubiquitous global crises to unfold in the post-information age.
As a novel virus has upended established norms framing how we interact as social creatures in physicality, our abrupt thrust into everyday virtuality over the past year has evidenced our dependence on technologies that have made the quantum leap from science fiction fantasy to quotidian existence. From genomic sequencing to logistics networks to high definition videoconferencing, the contemporary digital infrastructure that underpins the systems keeping us hanging in there also provides a canvas to fantasize about what is yet to come.
This project module provides a platform for artists, designers and architects to hypothesize and explore design fictions centered on virtual, physical and post-physical interactions, cybernetics and participatory interfaces, with a view towards articulating speculative futures that prototype the tomorrow we dread and/or long for.
Through a series of lectures, workshops and targeted discussions, participants will address topics including post-human centered design, telepresence/telerobotics, network cultures, edge computing and distributed computing, machine learning, human and artificial intelligence, generative and autonomous systems, environmental sensing and smart citizenry.
Admission requirements
Enrollment in MKG/MAD MFA or MediaArchitecture MSc programs
Application and registration procedure
Application with CV and Statement of Motivation to jason.reizner [ät] uni-weimar.de
Evaluation
Successful completion of the course is dependent on regular attendance, active participation, completion of assignments and delivery of a relevant semester prototype and documentation. Please refer to the Evaluation Rubric for more details.
Eligible participants
MFA Medienkunst/-gestaltung, MFA Media Art and Design, MSc MediaArchitecture candidates
Platforms and Tools
This Wiki
BigBlueButton (only as necessary)
Cisco WebEx
Are.na
MURAL
Miro
Google Jamboard
Syllabus (subject to change)
13 April 2021 / Week 1
Introduction
Course Organization
Administrative Housekeeping
Assignment: For next week, please review Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias by Michel Foucault: https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/foucault1.pdf
Please be ready to share your preliminary ideas for your concept for your semester project.
20 April 2021 / Week 2
Dystopia, Utopia, Heterotopia, Xenotopia
Assignment: TBA
27 April 2021 / Week 3
Artificial Intelligence and Creativity
Guest Lecture with Prof. Mario Verdicchio, University of Bergamo
Assignment: TBA
4 May 2021 / Week 4
Speculative Design, Design Fiction and the Cone of Futures
Assignment: TBA
11 May 2021 / Week 5
Project Roundtable I
Assignment: TBA
18 May 2021 / Week 6
Concept Development Lab
Proposal Workshop with Matthew Lloyd
Assignment: TBA
25 May 2021 / Week 7
Independent Research
Individual Consultations by Appointment
Assignment: TBA
1 June 2021 / Week 8
Synthetic and Mixed Realities
Assignment: TBA
8 June 2021 / Week 9
Midterm Presentations
Assignment: TBA
15 June 2021 / Week 10
3D/4D Process Lab
Guest Lecture TBA
Assignment: TBA
22 June 2021 / Week 11
Cybernetic Organisms and Environments
Assignment: TBA
29 June 2021 / Week 12
Archives, Narratives and Algorithmic Practice
Assignment: TBA
6 July 2021 / Week 13
Project Roundtable II
Assignment: TBA
13 July 2021 / Week 14
Final Presentations