Ambience Conference 28-30 November 2011

The University of Borås is hosting a very promising conference and exhibition next fall, gathering researchers, artists, designers and architects who challenge the boundaries between art, design and technology. With a foundation in artistic practice the conference will be organized as a meeting place where art, design, architect and technology communities can come together to discuss and share ideas on the interfaces between art and technology development; a place where art, design, architecture and technology can meet and interact, to inform each other, and to bring new ideas back to their own community.

The full programme is about to come but I can already let you know that Jane Scott and I will respectively present a paper. All the details for the conference are available on the conference's website. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Art and Design Index to Thesis

If you are looking for thesis examples in the field of practice-based and design-led research, then this link will be of interest. It is far from being exhaustive but it gives a partial overview of works in this area.

'ADIT (Art and Design Index to Theses) has been set up with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to provide a searchable resource of research degrees in Fine Art and Design. It aims to enable research students and their supervisors to build their understanding of the contribution that their research will make to their particular field of study.

When science talks about design

Today, DTU's Chemical Engineering Department is celebrating the still unusal collaboration between scientists and designers with an article dedicated to my last responsive installation called Reef, fruit of a collaboration with electro-active polymers' specialist Guggi Kofod and interaction designer David Gauthier. Discover this nice feature entitled 'Shaping reality with electro-active polymers' in their 2010 annual report.

Proposals for Paperweight – Issue Three: “Texture”

Drawing together writers, researchers, academics, enthusiasts, designers, artists and curators, each issue of Paperweight takes a timely theme related to visual and material culture, and uses it as a starting point, or an end point, or something in-between, to explore the territory from differing vantage points.

Due for publication in Autumn 2011, the third issue of Paperweight: A Newspaper of Visual and Material Culture is themed around Texture. The newspaper's editors are keen to hear proposals for contributions from designers and design historians who work with and around texture - from the smooth and the shiny, to the rough and the hairy; from fibre and fabric, to the waxed and the lacquered; and everything else.

Proposals should be submitted to Rebecca Onion (ronion.paperweight@polygraphia.co.uk) for material culture subjects or

Matt Lodder (mlodder.paperweight@polygraphia.co.uk) for visual culture topics.

Deadline for Proposals: 15 July 2011

Deadline for Submissions: 15 September 2011

For further information please see: www.polygraphia.co.uk/paperweight

Actuated Matter Workshop / Zurich / July 25-29

The Actuated Matter workshop explores the application of smart materials and their ability to transform space into responsive, adaptive environments. We will develop a speculative model for membrane structures that exhibit properties of sensitivity, resilience, and decay. By physically engaging with the behaviours of active materials, we experiment with the threshold between the electronic and mechanic, the analog and the digital. The workshop follows a do-it-yourself approach and will result in the development of sonic, luminous and moving modules that will populate and activate the environment. This workshop is part of a recent research initiative called “Emotive Environments” and emerges from a collaboration between ZHDK's Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (http://www.icst.net>), the Interaction Design Institute (http://iad.zhdk.ch>), ETH's Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design (http://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch>) and London based Loop.pH Design Research Studio (http://loop.ph/).

Participants will work in small groups, each be led by someone with experience in the particular field of research.

The workshop will be complemented by a final presentation and unveiling event, where you are also invited to come see the results, if you cannot attend the workshop.

The workshop is free of charge.
Application forms and more information can be found at: http://blogs.iad.zhdk.ch/emotiveenvironments/actuated-matter/

APPLICATION CLOSES JULY 13

SPECIAL EFFECTS: TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTERIOR EXPERIENCE

INTERIORS: DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE, CULTURE - Berg Publishers

Call for Articles - Special Issue (Vol. 3 Issue 1 - 2012)

SPECIAL EFFECTS: TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTERIOR EXPERIENCE

The editors Anne Massey (Kingston University) and John Turpin(Washington State University) invite contributions to the journal's 2012 special issue SPECIAL EFFECTS: Technology and the Interior Experience. This issue will examine the impact of technology on the development of the interior and the accompanying human experience. As the 21st century unfolds, technological additions, integrations and interventions have become more pervasive altering our interface with the built environment and greatly impacting our perception of the world around us: requiring us to face reality on the one hand, and yet allowing us to slip into immersive fantasies on the other. The divisions between outside and inside have become more porous, with virtual worlds and lived experience colliding and coalescing. Gadgets for the home; technology and sustainable living; shopping and atmosphere; projecting digital place and the development of gendered technologies are all areas that are open for analysis from an interior studies perspective.

The editors welcome submissions of articles addressing the topic of the interior and technology broadly defined. Submissions reflecting the latest research on the interior from historians, practitioners and theorists are particularly welcomed. Principal articles of 5,000 to 7,000 words, including notes and references, with 4-8 illustrations are invited, and should be sent as an attachment to interiors@bergpublishers.com by 31st July 2010.

Further details of the Journal, including Notes for Contributors, are available at www.bergjournals.com/interiors

If you have any queries about the Journal or about submitting an article, please contact: interiors@bergpublishers.com

Future Everything

Future Everything: Handmade's Digital |DIY | Craft Fair

Come down to Victoria Baths on Saturday 14th May to join crafters, hackers and makers from all over the country, as they showcase their work and ask you to get involved!

Jen Ballie will be presenting the Shared Scarf Project and invite you to participate in an interactive alternative fashion experience by enabling you to rip and mix past and present fashion trends to make them your own.

A collective collection will be co-designed live from london and streamed to the stand... lots of digital tools will be on hand to enable new design concepts. All very interactive and experimental... alternatively please check www.thesharedscarfproject.com and watch the next collection evolve - online contributions welcome.

If your in Manchester please come and say hello!