Wednesday, June 9 at 16.00–17.30
Location: Seminar Room
The workshop will be streamed to the Café/Research Platform.
Ryo Hanmura’s short story Cardboard Box is told from the perspective of a cardboard box. In the box’s own words, it shares its painful journey from factory, to use, and finally to being discarded. Along the way, we find ourselves empathizing with the box’s character, leading us to question our role as consumers. We might question how we “treat” the objects, products and technologies we encounter everyday. This may lead to other questions about objects or technologies that have (or have been given) character, personality, or even autonomy through voice or other anthropomorphic characteristics. What happens when we treat objects like people, or people like objects? As designers, artists, creators, when is it appropriate to give our creations human characteristics and what are the benefits and risks of doing so?
In this hands-on speculative design workshop, we will investigate what our world might be like if the objects around us (including products, clothing, etc.) could speak. Participants will learn some of the history of voice in technology. They will also learn how to create their own interactive art objects, inventions, and wearables that can speak words, produce melodies, and make other sounds using the Circuit Playground Express microcontroller. We will also investigate some of the above questions about creating technologies with “personality.”
Participants are encouraged to purchase and setup their own equipment ahead of time. We will learn how to use the Adafruit Circuit Playground: a microcontroller prototyping board that comes with many sensors and built-in sound capabilities to explore these questions in conjunction with re-imagining the objects around us, sketching new speculative objects, or incorporating technology into our previously constructed works.
Equipment: Adafruit Circuit Playground Express (the kit is strongly recommended)
Note: Please purchase and set up your Circuit Playground Express prior to the workshop if you would like to follow along. We will not have time for troubleshooting the equipment.
Here you’ll find the set up instructions