Reality has been represented in such various forms from virtual, augmented, mixed to tangible. The emerging technologies from multimedia to transmedia are enabling designers with an incredible possibility to re-shape the interactive experience between the human, the artifact and the world we live in. Meanwhile let us reflect on the relationship and its meaning between reality and the experience. In this seminar, we invite five researchers and practitioners from Finland, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy and USA/China to share their perspectives. We would like to organize it in a more compact but dedicated way that each people will have a short presentation, then following with a concrete panel discussion. We hope the conversation could bring us some food for thought at this point. Welcome all students, educators and friends to join us.
Lily Diaz-Kommonen
Professor of New Media, Department of Media, Aalto University
Lily Diaz-Kommonen is the full professor of new media at Aalto University. She is also responsible for the Doctoral Studies in the Media Lab Helsinki. Among her significant research projects include the Raisio Archeology Archive created as part of the Illuminating History Through the Eyes of Media project funded by the Academy of Finland; the Digital Facsimile of the Map of Mexico 1550 project that received First Prize in the Nabi Digital Storytelling International Competition of Intangible Heritage organized by Art Center Nabi in South Korea and UNESCO; the Interactive Virtual Reality Installation of the Pavilion of Finland at the 1900 World Fair in Paris developed as part of the TEKES funded HandsOn project; and the Interactive Virtual Reality Installation of Vrouw Maria, that was awarded a Special Mention of the Jury in the research category of the 2015 Europa Nostra digital cultural heritage competition. She has written over 90 publications in areas related to art, design, heritage and new media, including Ubiquitous Computing, Complexity and Culture, a Routledge anthology published in 2016 co-edited and co-authored with Ulrik Ekman, Jay David Bolter, Morten Sondegaard and Maria Engberg and Adaptation and Convergence of Media an Aalto Arts volume co-edited and co-authored with Magda Dragu, and Leena Eilittä published in 2018.
Ron Wakkary
Professor, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University
Professor, Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology
Ron Wakkary is a professor in design in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University in Canada where he founded the Everyday Design Studio (eds.siat.sfu.ca). In addition, he is a professor and Chair of Design for More Than Human-Centered Worlds in the Future Everyday Cluster in Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. Wakkary’s research investigates the changing nature of design and human-computer interaction in response to new understandings of human-technology relations and posthumanism. He aims to reflectively create new design exemplars, theory, and emergent practices to generously and expansively shape and understand ways of designing that are more accountable, sustainable, and equitable. Wakkary is the author of the book Things We Could Design for more than Human-Centered Worlds (MIT Press, 2021), a critical and creative speculation on how posthumanist design enables a world in which humans share center stage with nonhumans, with whom we are entangled.
Nick Bryan-Kinns
Professor of Interaction Design, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,
Queen Mary University of London
Distinguished Professor in Wuhan University of Technology
Nick Bryan-Kinns is the full professor of Interaction Design, director of the Media and Arts Technology Centre, a leader of the AI and Music Centre, and the director of International Joint Ventures in Queen Mary University of London. His research explores new approaches to the creation of interactive technologies for media and arts through Interaction Design techniques. It impacts the areas of Human-Computer Interaction, Creative Computing, and Design. His research has made audio engineering more accessible and inclusive, championed the design of sustainable and ethical IoT and wearables, and engaged rural and urban communities with physical computing through craft and cultural heritage. Bryan-Kinns is also a Distinguished Professor in Wuhan University of Technology and a Guest Professor in Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Bryan-Kinns is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Senior Member of the Association of Computing Machinery, and is a recipient of ACM and BCS Recognition of Service Awards.
Benjamin L. Bacon
Associate Professor of Media and Arts, Duke Kunshan University
Benjamin Bacon is currently Associate Professor of Media and Art and Director of Signature Work at Duke Kunshan University. He is also a lifetime fellow at V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Bacon is the co-founder of DOGMA Lab, a trans-disciplinary design lab based in Shanghai, China, and co-founded RAWR! Lab a design incubator based in Caochangdi, Beijing. Bacon is an inter-disciplinary artist, designer and musician that works at the intersection of computational design, networked systems, data, sound, installation and mechanical sculpture. He has held positions in a number of universities, include Assistant Professor of Computational and Media Design at Parsons School of Design, Director of BFA Design & Technology at Parsons School of Design, Manager of Technology at the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping, Assistant Professor of Art at New York University Shanghai, Foreign expert and Professor of Computational and Media Design at Shanghai Institute of Visual Art (SIVA), Adjunct Professor and Thesis Advisor at Roy Ascott Technoetic Art Program at Detao (SIVA). Additionally, he has held a two-year research position at Nokia Research Center Growth Economies Lab.
Francesco Galli
Professor in Adaptive Leadership and Creative Thinking, IULM University
Rector’s Delegate for Internationalization IULM University
Dr. Francesco Galli is the Professor and Researcher in Leadership and Creative thinking, IULM university Milan, Department of Business, Law, Economics and Consumption, and the Rector’s Delegate for Internationalization. He received his Phd in Design Leadership from Politecnico di Milano, and worked there from 2003 to 2017 before he joined IULM. His research on critical thinking lie at the interception between Leadership, Power, Creative and Cultural Industries and International Networks, with focus on Asia and South America. Some of his recent research has been published in his book “Design” is POWER. the Dark Side: Critical Thinking through Negotiation, Politics and Leadership (2020). He was also the visiting professor of Gd. Goenka University (New Delhi, India), Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (Beijing, China), UAI Adolfo Ibáñez University (Santiago, Chile), Tsinghua University Shenzhen (Shenzhen, China), Unisinos (Porto Alegre, Brazil), Universidad de Valparaíso (Valparaíso, Chile) and Hunan University (Changsha, China).
September 17, 2021 9-11 PM (Beijing Time, GMT +8)
Live steaming: http://live.bilibili.com/22661423
Host: Wei Wang, Professor, Hunan University
Schedule
9:00 – 9:05 Opening and greeting by Dean Ji Tie
9:05 – 10:15 Presentation: Prof. Lily Diaz-Kommonen, Prof. Ron Wakkary, Prof. Nick Bryan-Kinns, Prof. Benjamin L. Bacon, Prof. Benjamin L. Bacon, Prof. Francesco Galli
10:15 – 10:55 Panel discussion
10:55 – 11:00 Adjourn
Please send your questions or thoughts to wei.wang@mlab.cn in advance to participate our conversation.
