Micro-Phenomenology Crash Course

From February 7-9th, 2024, a Micro-Phenomenology Crash Course, instructed by Katrin Heimann, Associate Professor at the School of Culture and Society - Interacting Minds Centre of Aarhus University, took place at the Cluster. The event was organized by MoA members Maxime Le Calvé and Zeynep Akbal who gave the following impulse presentations:

»Ethnography, Phenomenology and the Anthropology of Experience in Mixed-Reality Design Processes« by Maxime Le Calvé (Cutting/OSA)

»Multi-Sensory Integration in VR, Subjectivity and Phenomenology of VR Experiences« by Zeynep Akbal (Cutting/Filtering)

What is Micro Phenomenology?
Micro-phenomenology is a new scientific discipline that enables us to explore our lived experiences and investigate how we engage with the world (Petitmengin 2016). The method brings a microscope effect into the subjective experience, with which we can study our perception in-depth and explore the phenomenal character of subjective experience.
While the scope of the training is not limited to that, in this workshop we will also underline how this method can be leveraged for understanding body awareness in VR and VR’s impact on body perception. Together with the participants, we will delve into topics like the importance of active movement in VR, subject-object interactions and how they alter bodily awareness, multisensory integration, cognitive skills, and discovering their plasticity in VR.

Aims and Objectives
The first objective is to provide participants with tools to dissect intricate first-person experiences of all kinds. By integrating the micro phenomenological method into our toolbox, we aspire to cultivate a sophisticated vocabulary, especially vital in articulating the layered sensations elicited by sensorial encounters with the world.
The second objective of this workshop is to provide a common object of inquiry for the training of the participants, we will apply micro phenomenology to analyze collectively the benefits and the challenges of VR and Mixed Reality experiences to bridge art and science.

VR / Mixed Reality Experiences
The workshop will spotlight »Subcortical Matters«, a mixed reality piece currently under development at the Speculative Realities Lab, as well as the »Virtual sensing knife and haptic hanbok« (2022).

International network
This workshop is a collaboration with Experimenting, Experiencing, Reflecting (EER) —a project of Aarhus University's Interacting Minds Center and the Olafur Eliasson studio in Berlin.

Report
You can find a detailed report about the workshop on Maxime's website.

Workshop Schedule

7 February, Wednesday

10:00 am
Workshop start, introduction
11:00 am
Katrin Heimann lecture
1:00 pm
Lunch break
2:00 pm
Interview training sessions & VR experience I
4:00 pm
End of workshop day

8 February, Thursday

10:00 am
Workshop start, body meditation
10:30 am
Maxime Le Calvé Impulse Paper »Ethnography, Phenomenology and Anthropology of Experience in Mixed-Reality Design Processes«
10:45 am
Interview training sessions & VR experience II
1:00 pm
Lunch break
2:00 pm
II. Interview training session & feedback
4:00 pm
End of workshop day

9 February, Friday

10:00 am
Workshop start, Katrin Heimann lecture about MP analysis
10:30 am
Discussion: How MP can be applied to your own research?
11:00 am
Feedback session
11:30 am
III. Interview training
12:30 pm
Zeynep Akbal Impulse Paper »Multi-sensory integration in VR, subjectivity and phenomenology of VR experiences«
12:45
Lunch break
1:30 pm
Debriefing & Discussion
3:00 pm
End of workshop