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Sustaining animation through the animator’s body
No full textThis paper sustains animation by foregrounding the somatic dimensions of a digital animation practice, framing them as acts of embodied play and resistance. Drawing on Vilém Flusser’s philosophy of communication (2014), Pierre Hébert’s opening of black boxes (2005), and Maxine Sheets-Johnstone’s phenomenology of animate life (2011), I argue for the enduring relevance of the animator’s body in a creative practice often overshadowed by technological narratives. By countering deterministic views that reduce digital animation to ‘code’, I highlight the essential role of human gestures in CGI animation—precisely the fingers that stir the digital. My short film WAVES (completed in December 2024) serves as a case study, by alluding to the animator’s physical engagement with the tools of her practice. The film uses both keyframed 3D animation as well as motion capture, and invites discussion on gestures as makers of meaning, and on the alienation of the mocap actor in the process of humanising the digital character. While WAVES communicates without spoken dialogue, relying instead on the languages of movement and music, this paper articulates and disseminates the often silent labour of the animator’s practice—work commonly unseen by audiences and critics. Through a Practice-as-Research methodology where I animate as a researcher and research as an animator, I pay attention to pipelines, experiments, and ephemeral exchanges that underpin the final work. These ‘in-between’ moments illuminate a practice in active dialogue with theory, where ‘doing-in-thinking’ and ‘thinking-in-doing’ glean knowledge through gesture. Reflecting on the somatic dimensions of my tool-handling, I contest the reductive framing of CGI animation as mere simulation or codework, and the binary of analogue versus digital. By likening the tactile manipulation of peripherals, such as the keyboard and mouse, to the act of playing musical instruments, I position the animator as a screen-facing performer whose gestures energise screen spaces
Rounding up: Undertaking experiential research on granulation techniques in a charcoal-fired furnace
Get PDFThis paper describes a programme of practice research that combines historical technology (small charcoal-fired furnaces) with contemporary digital making methodologies (digital CNC milling). The intention was to create small spherical granules of precious metal suitable for granulation, an ancient metalworking technique. The authors begin by providing an overview of granulation’s historical background and the different traditional methods used to create granules. They give an account of the equipment used in the physical experiments and describe the rationale behind specific design decisions. In particular, they reflect on the nature and properties of producing a reducing atmosphere inside the firing chamber of the furnace, and the relevance of this to the granulation process. They detail the digital making methodologies that were used to create setters made from graphite to encourage the formation of perfectly spherical granules, and how these relate to recent developments of the technique by contemporary makers. The project is a case study that demonstrates how practical reflexive experimentation can broaden our understanding of unrecorded but crucial skills such as fire management and the impact that practicing such skills in conjunction with digital methods of making can offer new insights into past technologies
One-pot sol–gel synthesis of Sr/Ca-doped silica nanoparticles for osteogenic therapy in osteoporosis
Get PDFOsteoporosis affects more than 200 million people worldwide, with an osteoporotic fracture occurring approximately every 3 seconds; with ageing populations, its prevalence continues to rise, yet it remains under-diagnosed and under-treated. Strontium- and calcium-doped mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles (BGNPs) are promising due to their ability to combine bioactive bone-regenerative function with controlled therapeutic ion release. We optimized a one-step sol–gel (modified Stöber) synthesis by varying the solvent system (pure water vs. 1:1 ethanol/water) to control BGNP size and morphology and assessed their effects on pre-osteoblasts (MC3T3-E1). Characterization by electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and ^29Si MAS NMR showed that ethanol inclusion yielded smaller, uniform spherical particles (74 ± 5 nm), whereas water alone produced significantly larger particles (224 ± 42 nm). Both Sr2+ and Ca2+ were incorporated as network modifiers within an amorphous silicate framework, with no crystalline phases. Cytocompatibility assays revealed a size-dependent response: larger particles reduced cell viability at 1 μg/mL, while both sizes were biocompatible at 0.1 μg/mL. At the non-toxic concentration of 0.1 μg/mL, BGNPs enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity, promoted osteogenic differentiation, and exhibited antioxidant activity by scavenging tert-butyl hydroperoxide-induced free radicals. These results indicate that solvent-controlled synthesis effectively tunes BGNP size without disrupting silicate network integrity, and that properly sized Sr/Ca-doped BGNPs support both osteogenic and antioxidant responses, making them strong candidates for advanced therapeutic approaches in osteoporosis treatment.</jats:p
Strategic Design in industry and business
No full textThis chapter explores the integration of strategic design within the contexts of industry and business, emphasising its transformative potential across economic, technological, and human aspects complementing the public perspective on strategic design as discussed in Chapter 2. Beginning with historical perspectives on strategy and design's evolving roles through industrialization, it delves into the impacts of technological revolutions and design's pivot towards addressing complex organisational challenges. Highlighting key concepts like design thinking, the fusion of design and management, and the significance of technological innovation, it underscores strategic design's role in fostering innovation, sustainability, and competitive advantage from the perspective of organisation design. Case studies illustrate the application of strategic design principles, offering insights into its practical implications for organisational transformation reflecting on Galbraith’s Star Model™ (2002) and the relationship between strategy, structure, processes, rewards and people. The Star Model™ as a framework supporting the implementation of a strategy is a well known approach in organisation design and in the corporate world (Galbraith, 2017). The presented cases shed light on various aspects of the model and are examples for a multidisciplinary approach that reveals strategic design as a critical tool for navigating contemporary challenges, advocating for a holistic, user centred methodology that bridges creativity, strategy, technology and the human in the organisational system. Starting with a case, in which a large-scale transformation project is taking place in a high-tech organisation, the documentation and guidance of complex work routines from paper to digital is changing – the aspect of processing information is the starting point where the design agent is acting. The second case deals with the development of an application for employees who can choose green pension funds based on their values within a reward program – Service Designers developed a concept for a 7-step process that enables this offer. The third case is a preparation of employees in a large international corporation which are going to face a major transformation in the near future – the design intervention here is a systemic approach in coaching the employees to reflect their perspectives and gain flexibility therein. The final case is looking into setting strategic goals for testing sustainable living solutions with advanced monitoring systems – the approach blends design and strategy for user-centred innovation and emphasises user involvement, systems thinking, and sustainability
Symbiotic relationships in environments of change: The potential of biological interactions in Artificial Intelligence
Get PDFThis design research interrogates the evolving paradigms of human-intelligent machine interactions, anchored in the biological principles of symbiosis. The thesis scrutinises the dynamic interplay between humans and technology, particularly in the context of the pervasive integration of intelligent machines into the multifaceted dimensions of daily life, which precipitates both novel challenges and opportunities. The investigation aims to elucidate the foundational elements that could incentivise these interactions and examines how researchers and designers might conceptualise a more profound symbiotic link between humans and intelligent machines. This doctoral inquiry probes the potential of leveraging symbiotic relationships observed in nature as a cornerstone for the advancement of machine intelligence systems, with the objective of augmenting human-machine interfaces. By establishing analogies between biological symbiosis—encompassing mutualism, parasitism, commensalism, and amensalism—and artificial intelligence (AI), the study endeavours to transpose these natural dynamics onto the design of intelligent machines that bolster human capabilities and contribute to societal well-being. The thesis is propelled by three principal research questions: (1) How can symbiotic relationships observed in nature serve as a muse for the design of machine intelligence systems? (2) How can the principles of biological symbiosis be harnessed to fortify human-machine collaborations? (3) In what manner can symbiotic design principles be applied to overcome extant limitations within Artificial Intelligence algorithms and systems? Employing a structured methodology that covers environment comprehension and the proposition of innovative approaches, this doctoral thesis seeks to chart a forward-looking trajectory for Artificial Intelligence research and application, deeply rooted in the principles of symbiosis. A practice-oriented research methodology unfolds across three distinct project branches. The initial branch delves into the experiential journey of a Machine Learning engineer, shedding light on the pragmatic facets of Artificial Intelligence development. The subsequent branch undertakes the categorisation of machine intelligence from a symbiotic perspective, advocating for a novel taxonomy for Artificial Intelligence systems. The final branch critically evaluates the ramifications of the symbiotic framework on privacy and surveillance within human-AI systems, underscoring the ethical and practical dilemmas of integration. This dissertation highlights a design philosophy predicated on mutual enhancement and co-evolution between humans and machines, arguing that intelligent machines inspired by biological symbiosis can generate more adaptive, resilient, and ethically robust technologies. Focusing on an audience across the disciplines of Artificial Intelligence, design, and biological sciences, this work advocates for a paradigm where technology and humanity coalesce, guided by the knowledge stemming from natural symbiosis
Reckoning with the necropolitics of reproduction On the concomitance of care and violence in two artefacts of reproductive healthcare
Get PDFThis experimental arts and humanities project develops methodologies for writing, public engagement, exhibition-making, and co-making artwork to critically care for the racialized “necropolitics of reproduction” (Mullings 2021). Conceived in response to the ongoing Black maternal mortality crisis in the UK, this practice-research is built on the conviction that this injustice and inequality requires care and attention not only through healthcare policy, but on a cultural and discursive level, too — specifically, in the field of contemporary art concerned with birth and motherhood. It performs an interdisciplinary, intersectional, and decolonial analysis of the care and violence which users experience in reproductive healthcare, in order to contribute to a deeper understanding of health inequalities. A continuous search for and testing of methods to critically intervene and mediate the necropolitics of reproduction is guided by María Puig de la Bellacasa’s question of how to care? (2011, 2017). Through two historical artefacts, two crucial phases in the history of reproductive healthcare are investigated: the introduction of modern contraceptives in 1920s Britain, and the emerging obstetric and gynaecological disciplines in 1880s America. These case studies trace the origins of the contemporary Black maternal mortality crisis back to racist and eugenic ideologies, connected to the racialization inherent to colonialism and imperialism (Mbembe 2019). The interactive digital project Touching Matters of Care (“Prorace” cervical cap, 1915–20) (2022) and the site-responsive textile installation Naturkulturpolitik (2022–23), made collaboratively with the artist Lynne Kouassi, re-stage, re-mediate, and re-make the two artefacts as part of a reckoning with the necropolitics of reproduction. Interdisciplinary engagement with these artefacts leads to the identification of the concomitance of care and violence in the necropolitics of reproduction: care and violence often occur simultaneously within the same objects, institutions, processes, and gestures. Concomitant objects, such as the two artefacts in this study, hold competing narratives; they are ambivalent, polarising and deeply divisive. A class of objects which could be drawn from any field, discipline, practice, or consumer experience, they require our critical-caring attention to unpack and mediate their inherent contradictions. Beyond museological preservation or presentation, concomitant objects require critical-creative re-describing, and even re-making, to draw useful insights for our present times. The two concomitant objects of this project exemplify how the necropolitics of reproduction operates. This project problematises white feminist mobilisations of care ethics in the history of reproductive healthcare, to show that care is not always ‘good’ or innocent; care must be critically and historically assessed and “unsettled” (Murphy 2015). It aims to contribute to a braver feminism of reproduction and birth in the arts, by challenging this field to address more intersectionally how class, ability, and particularly race, impact sexual reproduction. Through this project’s critical engagement with the complications of ‘care’, it insists on a situated, responsive, and evolving care for our shared cultures and histories
Before & after: The architecture of disaster
No full textCatastrophes, bombed-out cities, large-scale political transformations: “Image complexes” of humanitarian and ecological upheaval document the world as a sequence of catastrophes. But who decides how events are presented, determines the resolution of our visual worlds and controls the circulation or censorship of images? Eyal and Ines Weizman trace the history of the before-and-after image from 19th-century photography to contemporary satellite images and discover a gap that not only conceals the devastating event: it is the human subject itself that is in danger of disappearing from the images. Do humanitarian work, the documentation and reconstruction of war crimes, in which people’s fates and rights should be at the center of attention, paradoxically enter a post-human phase? How can the gap between images become a site of critical counter-reading rather than a symbol of erasure? In the context of their current research, Eyal and Ines Weizman discuss the history, present and future of the paradigm of the before-and-after image in an exclusive conversation with Marie Glassl
Universe: A dark crystal odyssey
No full textCostume design for UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey, a contemporary dance piece performed by Company Wayne McGregor. A moving meditation on the climate crisis, exploring themes of exploitation, destruction, apathy and ultimately hope. Originally inspired by The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson’s cult fantasy movie about an ailing planet and a divided race, this piece depicts an earth riven by extremes and urgently in need of healing. Immersive digital environments and cutting-edge costumes create a stunning blend of fantasy and documentary, while high tensile choreography in dialogue with spoken word, powerfully evokes the inseparability of humanity and nature. This is a modern eco-myth that asks how we can come together to be whole again. A co-production between Studio Wayne McGregor and The Royal Ballet in association with The Jim Henson Company
“Another Taste, Another Year, Another Place, Another Tear”: Fashioning the anti-social icon from Orlok to Lestat
Get PDF“Another Taste, Another Year, Another Place, Another Tear”: Fashioning the Anti-Social Icon from Orlok to Lestat Fashion is an ever-evolving academic field. Once ‘relegated to art, anthropology and dress studies’ (Hancock, Johnson Woods and Karaminas, 2013), fashion is now located within a wider cultural framework that includes film and television. It has been identified by scholars as a place for discourse historically, but since the new Millennium, this space has become more engaged in critical analysis (Petrov & Whitehead, 2019). From the interdisciplinary perspective of fashion studies and the literary queer Gothic, this chapter will explore how costume design specifically narrates and emphasises the queerness and exceptionality of the vampire. Analysing the economic metaphors extant in two examples of vampiric nobility which have seen several adaptations over the years and have resurged in popularity once more, we will analyse Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) in Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu (2024) as contextualising frame to our analysis of Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) in the recent AMC television adaptation of Annie Rice’s Interview with a Vampire (2022-present). Costume offers a way to explore complexities of narrative structure especially within an increasingly complex and non-linear approach to storytelling (Mulholland, 2020). This chapter will argue that these characters are brought to life in new ways which emphasise their existence as out-of-step with chronological aesthetic trends, fashioned visually, symbolically and materially to express their exceptionality. To do this we will engage with queer theory’s antisocial thesis (Sedgewick, 2002; Edelman, 2004) to unpack how realism and authenticity are articulated to circumnavigate human, heteropatriarchal and essentialist limitations of gender expression and sexual mores.This will develop into a discussion of how the stylised vampire can provide us with both an anticapitalist metaphor for overconsumption and an aspirational image of aesthetics detached from their contemporary zeitgeist