»stretching senses school«

Concept

The ongoing climate disaster puts many worlds in imminent danger. But conveying the entanglements of the more-than-human relations is an arduous task. Playful approaches can directly affect our sensory faculties beyond the realm of power and knowledge. The »stretching senses school« was an education-as-research project at the Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin (TA T) attached to the exhibition Stretching Materialities, co-partnered with the Node Institute Berlin. Through this workshop-based contribution to the exhibition, we intended to foster collaboration between anthropology and immersive interaction design. We engaged with research creation in order to raise awareness of the public on the multiscale and embedded interconnections between humans and other earthly beings.

Dynamic immersive experiences mapped onto a physical space are at the core of the exhibition »Stretching Materialities« of the MoA project Object Space Agency. At the center of the roundly shaped exhibition space, a portal-like VR elevator is built. With it, the visitors can hitch rides across temporal and spatial scales. We envision this device as a platform for collaboration. We want to extend and to share this toy with other artists, programmers and digital activists who are interested in stretching senses and blending physical and virtual in hybrid setups — to produce compelling experiences which will help to challenge our anthropo-centered imaginations and acknowledge our hypo-subjectivities in the face of the climate crisis.

The members of the school received a compensation for their time, and accepted to take part in the activities and complete the production of research creation artworks. They were given the opportunity to exhibit their results and to collaborate on interdisciplinary research publications. The design mentors of the school will shared their experience, lead the team members to produce research and design works, in collaboration with the scholars of the project »Object Space Agency« at »Matters of Activity«. Node Institute was providing the support of its community of practitioners.

We intended to build a community of ›members‹ which will pursue its activities in the years to come, fostering playful and excessive collaborations between ecological humanities and digital designers.

Example of instructions for this first workshop:

• Use immersive technologies to challenge our commonsensical/modern perception of materials (stones/air/silk) and non-human/more-than-human beings (neuron cells/rattan plants/air-borne bacteria) and their intrinsic activity.
• Visualize/sonify/evocate interaction with more-than-human beings at radically other scales, turning perceptive information from scientific instruments at the levels of nano/micro/macro/cosmo into sensorial (and therefore interactive) experiences.
• Visualize/sonify borderline, equivocal boundaries (between the virtual neuron cell and the probe/rattan surface and the moisture of the room) exploring its virtual/temporal/spatial dimensions in alternative sensorial/synesthesial manners.

Available Equipment

VR Headsets (Vive and Oculus)
Kinect spacial Cameras, Leap Motion, Myo gesture Controllers or Muse Brainwave controllers, Arduinos with sensors

Curatorial Process

We are issuing a call for application directed primarily at visualists, 3D artists, programmers and sound designers, based in Berlin. Interest in environmental humanities is a must. The members will be organized into 2 to 4 groups, led by a team of experienced mentors. They will work together during a two-day workshop and then complete their projects over a duration of 8 weeks. The participants will receive modest financial compensation for their time (750 euros including VAT). Follow-up meetings every two weeks will enable feedback and sharing the research and creation process with the curatorial team.

Aspiring participants should send their CVs, a portfolio, or links to a minimum of 3 relevant projects, plus one paragraph of intention to Anne Delle.

Selected Mentors for the Teams

VanTa is a parametric designer. He works with artists and designers to materialize creative visions into astounding real-time visuals and physical installations. Originally from Cordoba, he studied Environmental Sciences in Granada, then moved to Berlin, where he is currently based.

Jemma Woolmore’s art practice explores the spatial and emotional possibilities of light, sound and image in immersive and performative environments. 
She crafts abstract worlds that fluctuate ambiguously in scale between the micro and macro, responding intuitively with sound and environment and blurring the boundaries between real and virtual.  Her practice explores the possibilities for storytelling and world-building using audio-visual performance and immersive installation. She is a New Zealand artist who is based in Berlin.

Nayeli Vega is a designer and artist. Her work is a hybrid practice in physical and digital space that focuses on re-examining the role and function of technology in discussing ecological and social issues of the past, present, and future. She holds a master's degree in textile and surface design from weißensee school of art and design berlin. Vega is co-founder and member of Lacuna Lab e.V., an international artist* collective in Berlin-Kreuzberg that brings together a wide range of projects at the intersection of art and technology. In 2021, she is supported by the Elsa Neumann Scholarship of the State of Berlin.

Mickey van Olst is a Dutch artist based in Berlin operating with a variety of media often involving experimentation through technology. His work is driven by a somewhat naive curiosity for electronics, programming, and design paired with the need for communication through unlikely and unwieldy formats.
By placing a strong focus on conceptual thinking forged with a dynamic understanding of design and hands-on technical knowledge, Mickey works on interactive art installations, prototyping, and computer-generated visuals.

Anthropological and Curatorial Team

Maxime Le Calvé is an anthropologist and a curator. He is currently employed as a Research Associate at the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activities«. In his latest projects, he is exploring haptic creativities in image-guided neurosurgery and virtual reality experience design. He holds a PhD in social anthropology and theater studies from EHESS Paris and FU Berlin. He is currently teaching multimodal ethnographic methods at HU Berlin and investigative writing at the Open Design Master (HU Berlin & Uni. Buenos Aires). Maxime is a member of Object Space Agency and project leader of Cutting.

Yoonha Kim is an anthropologist interested in how people imagine the future and take action. She studied Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins in London and Visual and Media Anthropology at the Freie Universität Berlin. At MoA, within the project Object Space Agency, she is looking into traditional Korean clothing – the ›Hanbok‹ – as an active matter and how the East Asian ontology embedded in the garment can trigger divergent ways of how digital objects exist.

Project Management

Anne Delle

Detailed Timeline

Application Process

30 August 2021: Call for application
15 September 2021: End of the application period
20 September 2021: Selected applicants are informed

Kick-off and Sprint

Online meeting with mentors + OSA researchers

14–15 October 2021, 9:30 am–4:00 pm // Immersive Workshop & Design sprint at Tieranatomisches Theater, in Berlin (Objekt Labor)

Program of both days:

• Introductory sessions to the immersion, including movement and a meditation session.
• Workshops on parametric design and immersive experience by the mentors.
• Definition of the canvases/formats within the exhibition for the deliverables.
• »Earthly-beings« themed lunches by the MoA Ferment-activity Club.

Follow-ups

Follow-ups are a combination of in-person feedback on the progress of the work, sharing current interests, ideas and technical/design needs, adjustment with the researchers, and the occasion for workshop and impulse presentations.

4 November 2021, 1:00 pm–4:00 pm: Follow up #1 at MoA or TAT (+ impulse presentation from MoA guest)

2 December 2021, 1:00 pm–4:00 pm: Follow up #2 at MoA or TAT (+ impulse presentation from MoA guest)

Final Presentations

16 December 2021: Final presentations at TAT, vernissage of the new VR experiences

Works will be exhibited until January 31st, 2022 (End of the exhibition)