Work

Augmented: Design and ethnography in/of an architecture, computer science, and textile research-creative collective

Year: 2022
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper introduces a multi-disciplinary research-creation project that examines the embodied and social nature of textile design and making at different structural scales – from beaded accessories to architectural components. Bringing together anthropology, architecture, computer science, and textile craft, “Gesture and Form” seeks to develop effective and ethical pedagogies for teaching design and handcraft with new materials and technologies. Specifically, the project explores the potentialities and limitations of a head-worn augmented reality (AR) system that documents, encodes, and later guides making practices. The discussion first introduces different disciplinary frameworks for understanding and researching embodied knowledge, before sketching the multi-disciplinary research design, which loosely distinguishes “design research” (and creation) from “design anthropology.” We then dwell on the multiple challenges of the endeavor, from orchestrating and defining the activities of “design” and “research,” to asymmetries of technical expertise its communication, to the blurring of participant-observer positionalities.
Authors: Claire Nicholas, James Forren, Derek Reilly
Language: English
Subfield: Museology
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4283034637
FWCI: 5.235
Cites: 43
Cited by: 3
Related to: 10