Expanding:THE BODY

On February 14th, 2024, the final exhibition of the innovative semester project Coding IxD opened its gates to visitors to explore the interactive student works. The project was a collaboration with the Weizenbaum Institute.

As we enter a world where technology is not just around us but also inseparable from us, even inside us, it is time to rethink how we design for and with the human body. The rise of wearables, body tattoos, and e-textiles demonstrates the increasing ubiquity of technology in capturing vital body data. However, these innovations reflect universal solutions that often overlook the individuality inherent in each human body’s response to different life situations and environments. This points to the urgent need for a paradigm shift in which technologies are designed to celebrate and support the uniqueness of each human body, bridging the digital-physical divide with tangible and embodied artifacts.

In the semester project of 2024, »Expanding:THE BODY,« we delved into the experiential differences in the lived embodiments of individuals and groups and explored how these unique experiences shape lives differently. We raised questions about the data and information that human bodies can provide and how individuals can cultivate skills to become more attentive to their body data. In interdisciplinary teams, students researched and discussed the possibilities of data physicalization by carefully reflecting on the diversity of human body data.

Coding IxD is part of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material« and a cooperation between the Human-Centered Computing Research Group (Freie Universität Berlin) and the Embodied Interaction Group (Weißensee School of Art and Design Berlin).

Supervision:

Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller-Birn (Freie Universität Berlin)
Peter Sörries (Freie Universität Berlin & Weißensee School of Art and Design Berlin)
David Leimstädtner (Freie Universität Berlin)