Dates: 19-20 June 2017
Location: Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, The Netherlands
Website: EKSIG 2017
Deadline for submissions: EXTENDED 7 November 2016
International Conference 2017 of the Design Research Society
Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG 2017)
We are excited to invite submissions for the sixth biennial International Conference 2017 of the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG 2017) to be held in Delft, The Netherlands from the 19th to 20th of June 2017. Alive . Active . Adaptive focuses on the experiential knowledge of working with emerging materials that are alive, active and adaptive, whether by means of biological or computational processes or an integration of the two. The conference brings together design practitioners, researchers, engineers, architects and artists to discuss the future of emerging materials and its implications for design research and practice.
Conference Theme
'Material' has been a central point of research and practice agendas for decades in design. In the field of art, Focillon (1934) and Dewey (1980) emphasized the unique role of 'material engagement' in one's process of thinking and reflecting. Material engagement in craft is a means to logically think, learn and understand through sensing and immediate experience of materials (Ingold, 2013; Nimkulrat, 2012; Adamson 2007). Through such practical inquiries one can understand the relationship between material, process and form (Niedderer, 2012).
In HCI, tinkering is an important part of interaction design processes concerned with crafting interactive artifacts that blend physical and digital materials (Zimmerman et al. 2007; Loewgren & Stolterman 2004; Buxton 2007; Holmquist 2012; Sundstroem et al., 2010). Tinkering with materials is a way of bringing material considerations early into the design process (Giaccardi & Candy 2009). It also has motivated designers to seek an expanded vocabulary to speak of the ways in which digital and physical materials come into relation (Wiberg 2013), describe computational properties (Vallgarda and Sokoler, 2010), and elicit unique expressions through digital materials (Bergstroem et al., 2011; Isbister & Hoeoek, 2007; Loewgren, 2006; Tsaknaki et al., 2014).
When it comes to product design, many designers in the history of design have explored and engaged the diverse texture and finishing possibilities of materials, alongside phenomenological considerations on the merits of using particular materials for particular products (Manzini, 1986; Ashby & Johnson, 2002; Karana et al., 2014). Today we still see such an approach in some pioneer product design work: see for example the works of Tokujin Yoshioka (paper, glass), Piet Hein Eek (scrap wood), Paulo Ulian (marble), and Alberto Meda (carbon-fibre composites).
Over the last decade, we observe an ever-increasing interest in creating and designing with new materials (Karana et al., 2016; Rognoli et al., 2015; Wilkes et al., 2015). Suzanne Lee uses microbial cellulose composed of millions of tiny bacteria to produce clothing in her bathtub; Carol Colette, in "This is Alive" (2013), emphasizes that "A quiet revolution is happening", and invites us to imagine a world in which plants grow product, and bacteria is genetically reprogrammed. Maurizio Montalti, in the "The Future of Plastics" exhibition (2014), shares his vision about future mycelium-based plastic materials. Anna Vallgarda (2009) introduces the notion of 'computational composites', a new design space in which conventional materials (like wood) become more expressive and adaptable through computation. Without a doubt, the emergence of such new materials and approaches offers opportunity for achieving new material experiences. But as materials acquire new agency and interactional possibilities (whether algorithmic, biological or chemical), how do we work with such alive, active and adaptive materials? How do we mobilize the inherent properties of these materials in eliciting unique material experiences and ways of doing? And as materials acquire connectivity (whether digital or organic) and thus fluctuate within more fluid situations of use and needs, how do we understand the movements, temporalities and relationships of a material in relation to other materials?
This calls for different skill sets, different way of understanding and mobilizing materials in design. It also requires proper forecasting, envisioning, as well as new ways of resourcefully addressing variety and ongoing change through new forms of openness in the materiality and functionality of designs.
In EKSIG Alive. Active. Adaptive Conference, we are interested in the experiential knowledge of working with emerging materials that are alive, active and adaptive. It is an interdisciplinary conference that encompasses how such materials are understood, designed and how they act as a medium in the creation of unique material experiences (Karana et al., 2015; Giaccardi & Karana, 2015).
We welcome a broad engagement with the field by inviting submissions from a diverse range of researchers and practitioners whose work is centralized around the following themes:
Submission Formats
In EKSIG 2017 we welcome submissions in "pictorials" format in addition to "academic" full papers. Pictorials are papers in which the visual components (e.g. diagrams, sketches, illustrations, renderings, photographs, annotated photographs, collages) are at least as important and possibly more important than the texts. Pictorials may have a practical or theoretical nature or both. They can present methods, insights and lessons learned from teaching, crafting and engaging with Emerging Materials and on aforementioned conference theme. Pictorials can also present recent design projects that address issues and insights in Experiential Knowledge through Materials and contribute to the accumulation of experience and sharing of knowledge in the field. Through pictorials, we aim at encouraging practitioners in academia, industry, non-profits, or collectives to express and unpack their design practices and projects in rich, heavily visual ways. Pictorials will be published in the proceedings and presented orally at the conference. We will welcome samples and demonstrators exhibition during the presentation of Pictorials.
Pictorial submissions are required to contain an abstract (150 words). Further textual narration to convey academic contribution is optional up to 2000 words. Pictorials should not exceed 12 pages (incl. references). All submissions should be formatted using EKSIG Pictorials Layout that will be shared in the conference website soon.
Important Dates
31 October 2016: Full submission due for Papers and Pictorials
31 January 2017: Notification of acceptance of Papers and Pictorials
28 February 2017: Submission of revised Papers and Pictorials
19-20 June 2017: Conference
Venue
EKSIG 2017 on Alive . Active . Adaptive will be held in the historic city of Delft, The Netherlands.
Details of the full conference will be available in the conference website soon. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.
Special Interest Group Website: http://experientialknowledge.org.uk/.
Location: Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, The Netherlands
Website: EKSIG 2017
Deadline for submissions: EXTENDED 7 November 2016
Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG 2017)
We are excited to invite submissions for the sixth biennial International Conference 2017 of the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG 2017) to be held in Delft, The Netherlands from the 19th to 20th of June 2017. Alive . Active . Adaptive focuses on the experiential knowledge of working with emerging materials that are alive, active and adaptive, whether by means of biological or computational processes or an integration of the two. The conference brings together design practitioners, researchers, engineers, architects and artists to discuss the future of emerging materials and its implications for design research and practice.
Conference Theme
'Material' has been a central point of research and practice agendas for decades in design. In the field of art, Focillon (1934) and Dewey (1980) emphasized the unique role of 'material engagement' in one's process of thinking and reflecting. Material engagement in craft is a means to logically think, learn and understand through sensing and immediate experience of materials (Ingold, 2013; Nimkulrat, 2012; Adamson 2007). Through such practical inquiries one can understand the relationship between material, process and form (Niedderer, 2012).
In HCI, tinkering is an important part of interaction design processes concerned with crafting interactive artifacts that blend physical and digital materials (Zimmerman et al. 2007; Loewgren & Stolterman 2004; Buxton 2007; Holmquist 2012; Sundstroem et al., 2010). Tinkering with materials is a way of bringing material considerations early into the design process (Giaccardi & Candy 2009). It also has motivated designers to seek an expanded vocabulary to speak of the ways in which digital and physical materials come into relation (Wiberg 2013), describe computational properties (Vallgarda and Sokoler, 2010), and elicit unique expressions through digital materials (Bergstroem et al., 2011; Isbister & Hoeoek, 2007; Loewgren, 2006; Tsaknaki et al., 2014).
When it comes to product design, many designers in the history of design have explored and engaged the diverse texture and finishing possibilities of materials, alongside phenomenological considerations on the merits of using particular materials for particular products (Manzini, 1986; Ashby & Johnson, 2002; Karana et al., 2014). Today we still see such an approach in some pioneer product design work: see for example the works of Tokujin Yoshioka (paper, glass), Piet Hein Eek (scrap wood), Paulo Ulian (marble), and Alberto Meda (carbon-fibre composites).
Over the last decade, we observe an ever-increasing interest in creating and designing with new materials (Karana et al., 2016; Rognoli et al., 2015; Wilkes et al., 2015). Suzanne Lee uses microbial cellulose composed of millions of tiny bacteria to produce clothing in her bathtub; Carol Colette, in "This is Alive" (2013), emphasizes that "A quiet revolution is happening", and invites us to imagine a world in which plants grow product, and bacteria is genetically reprogrammed. Maurizio Montalti, in the "The Future of Plastics" exhibition (2014), shares his vision about future mycelium-based plastic materials. Anna Vallgarda (2009) introduces the notion of 'computational composites', a new design space in which conventional materials (like wood) become more expressive and adaptable through computation. Without a doubt, the emergence of such new materials and approaches offers opportunity for achieving new material experiences. But as materials acquire new agency and interactional possibilities (whether algorithmic, biological or chemical), how do we work with such alive, active and adaptive materials? How do we mobilize the inherent properties of these materials in eliciting unique material experiences and ways of doing? And as materials acquire connectivity (whether digital or organic) and thus fluctuate within more fluid situations of use and needs, how do we understand the movements, temporalities and relationships of a material in relation to other materials?
This calls for different skill sets, different way of understanding and mobilizing materials in design. It also requires proper forecasting, envisioning, as well as new ways of resourcefully addressing variety and ongoing change through new forms of openness in the materiality and functionality of designs.
In EKSIG Alive. Active. Adaptive Conference, we are interested in the experiential knowledge of working with emerging materials that are alive, active and adaptive. It is an interdisciplinary conference that encompasses how such materials are understood, designed and how they act as a medium in the creation of unique material experiences (Karana et al., 2015; Giaccardi & Karana, 2015).
We welcome a broad engagement with the field by inviting submissions from a diverse range of researchers and practitioners whose work is centralized around the following themes:
- Designerly or artistic ways of understanding alive, active, adaptive materials
- Frameworks, approaches, tools and methods to support designing (with) alive, active and adaptive materials
- Interdisciplinary collaborations between different disciplines such as materials science and design in opening up new research spaces and design possibilities with alive, active and adaptive materials
- Explorations of future applications of alive, active and adaptive materials
- Critical views on the future of emerging materials and its implications for design research and practice
- Design research on and reflective accounts of experience and practice with alive, active and adaptive materials
- Implications of alive, active and adaptive materials on (materials) education in design or other creative disciplines
Submission Formats
In EKSIG 2017 we welcome submissions in "pictorials" format in addition to "academic" full papers. Pictorials are papers in which the visual components (e.g. diagrams, sketches, illustrations, renderings, photographs, annotated photographs, collages) are at least as important and possibly more important than the texts. Pictorials may have a practical or theoretical nature or both. They can present methods, insights and lessons learned from teaching, crafting and engaging with Emerging Materials and on aforementioned conference theme. Pictorials can also present recent design projects that address issues and insights in Experiential Knowledge through Materials and contribute to the accumulation of experience and sharing of knowledge in the field. Through pictorials, we aim at encouraging practitioners in academia, industry, non-profits, or collectives to express and unpack their design practices and projects in rich, heavily visual ways. Pictorials will be published in the proceedings and presented orally at the conference. We will welcome samples and demonstrators exhibition during the presentation of Pictorials.
Pictorial submissions are required to contain an abstract (150 words). Further textual narration to convey academic contribution is optional up to 2000 words. Pictorials should not exceed 12 pages (incl. references). All submissions should be formatted using EKSIG Pictorials Layout that will be shared in the conference website soon.
Important Dates
31 October 2016: Full submission due for Papers and Pictorials
31 January 2017: Notification of acceptance of Papers and Pictorials
28 February 2017: Submission of revised Papers and Pictorials
19-20 June 2017: Conference
Venue
EKSIG 2017 on Alive . Active . Adaptive will be held in the historic city of Delft, The Netherlands.
Details of the full conference will be available in the conference website soon. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.
Special Interest Group Website: http://experientialknowledge.org.uk/.
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