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.

Keywords

ethnography, architecture, computer science, embodied knowledge

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Conference Track

Research Paper

Share

COinS
 
Jun 25th, 9:00 AM

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

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.

 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.