Emergent Objects: Performing Design

Second Invited Colloquium
Monday 17th – Wednesday 19th December 2007
School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds

AIMS OF THE COLLOQUIUM

• To share key ideas and concepts arising from Emergent Objects with a wider audience of design experts

• To invite scrutiny and critique of the objects that the project has been developing

 

• To use workshops to explore the potential value of integrating performance thinking and practices into design processes

• To identify what aspects of the project might be developed in future

 

We identified and invited academic and practitioner experts in the fields of interaction design, experience design, product design, fashion and clothing, robotics, digital and media art, engineering, architecture and computing. At our request, the Chartered Society of Designers notified its members of the Colloquium, inviting participation.

The Colloquium marked the end of the project as funded by Designing for the 21st Century and was therefore an important opportunity for dissemination, reflection and evaluation.

We summarised the key ideas and issues of the project as a whole and showed the outcomes of our sub-projects: three objects designed to facilitate expressive interactivity between human agents and technology. And we asked participants to join us in actively exploring, reflecting on and responding to questions about how performance knowledge can help us to understand and facilitate emergence in the context of design processes, for example: 

• What do the objects which have been developed within Emergent Objects reveal about potential relationships between human agent and technological object?

• How do the techniques and approaches that have been adopted in Emergent Objects translate into wider fields of design?

• What is the value of insights arising from Emergent Objects to the wider design community?

In response to a widely-expressed desire at the June Colloquium for experience of EO working methods, we devoted a whole day to workshops. While these were taking place, all three ‘objectiles’ – Hoverflies, SpiderCrab and Snake - were available to the public to play and interact with.
The Colloquium took place in the new building on the Leeds Campus, which combines PCI offices and the new University theatre complex, stage@leeds.

SCHEDULE

Monday 17th December

12.00 – 2.00    Registration

1.00 – 2.00      Buffet lunch

2.00 – 3.00      Emergent Objects project overview,
Outline of key ideas and concepts, issues for each of the sub-projects. Introduction and orientation prior to viewing the objects.

3.00 – 5.00      Emergent Objects sub-projects in action – motivated observation and participation

Hoverflies[link to Hoverfliesdec1], Tetley Garden
Snake [link to Snakedec1], Alec Clegg studio, Stage@Leeds
Spidercrab [link to SpiderCrabdec1], Stage One theatre, Stage@Leeds

 

16.00 - 16.30 Tea and coffee

5.00 – 6.00      Plenary discussion

6.00 – 7.00      Drinks reception

 

Tuesday 18th December

9.30 – 10.15    Reflections on and provocations for Emergent Objects
with key provocations from Dorita Hannah, Nathan Shedroff and Jenny Tennant Jackson.

10.15 – 10.30 Coffee

10.30 – 11.00 Design Briefing from Isabel Jones, Salamanda Tandem
                        Focussing on the experience and needs of people with Asperger’s Syndrome

11.05 – 5.00   Parallel workshop groups

11.05 – 1.00 Workshop 1[link to Workshopdec1]
Lateral thinking through performance - including projection, embodied thought, play and composition.

1.00 – 2.00 Buffet lunch

2.00 – 4.25 Workshop 2[link to Workshopdec2]
Addressing the design challenge through collaborative and interdisciplinary working

4.25 – 4.55 Reflections in workshop groups

5.00 – 5.30  Plenary discussion

7.15 - 10.00 Colloquium dinner

 

Wednesday 19th December

9.30 – 11.00      Parallel discussion groups

11.00 – 11.30   Coffee

11.30 – 12.30   Plenary discussion

12.30 – 1.30      Buffet lunch and departure

 

EMERGENT OBJECTS GUESTS

Name	Organisation
Ralph Ball	Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, UK
Tony Brooks	Aalborg University, Denmark
Ben Challis	University of Glamorgan, UK
Anne Cranny-Francis	Macquarie University, Australia
John Finnegan	Purdue University, USA
Ranulph Glanville	CybernEthics Research
Eila Goldhahn	Independent researcher
Dorita Hannah	Massey University, NZ
Nick Hunt	Rose Bruford College, UK
Isabel Jones	Salamanda Tandem
Sarah Kettley	Napier University, UK
Sietske Klooster	University of Technology Eindhoven, Netherlands
Christoph Lischka	University of the Arts Bremen, Germany
Peter McCormack	Kinetica Museum
Lorena Monsalve	Artdroid
Mark Norman	Merlin Systems Corp. Ltd
Sally Jane Norman	Newcastle University, UK
Despina Papadopoulos	Studio 5050
Ian Parmee	University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
Nathan Shedroff	Independent writer on Experience Design
Jenny Tennant Jackson	Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
Elizabeth Thruesch	University of Leeds, UK
Alex Zivanovic	Landsdown Centre for Electronic Art, Middlesex University,UK

EMERGENT OBJECTS RESEARCHERS

Name	Institution/Company
Christopher Baugh	University of Leeds
Alice Bayliss	University of Leeds
Jamie Billing	Nottingham Trent University
Philip Breedon	Nottingham Trent University
John Brydon	University of Leeds
Tracy Cordingley	Nottingham Trent University
Matthew Godden	Shadow Robot Company
Derek Hales	University of Huddersfield
David Hogg	University of Leeds
Sophia Lycouris	Nottingham Trent University
Joslin McKinney	University of Leeds
Scott Palmer	University of Leeds
Sita Popat	University of Leeds
Alec Robertson	De Montfort University
Jennifer Sheridan	BigDog Interactive Ltd
Rich Walker	Shadow Robot Company
Mick Wallis	University of Leeds

• A Report on the December Colloquium is in preparation.

• In response to a widely-expressed desire of participants, an Emergent Objects Network is being established, to continue the conversation. For further details, contact Mick Wallis, pcumw@leeds.ac.uk.