Reflections

Sensing and Picking, Plants and Pottery

Situated in this new context, at the border of Spain and France, in between winter and spring, just finishing our Design Dialogues before moving on to the last term, our Research Trip to Angoustrine proved to be a truly tantalizing experience.

I had a loose idea of what I wanted to make as an output for the trip and let ideas flow as we engaged in different activities. The initial (spontaneous) thought was to do something in between the translation of the physical and digital, in the ways we “capture” the physical world in our digital devices.

The availability of various tools for seeing and sensing: magnifiers, microphones, 3D scanner, allowed us to perceive in new ways. Using the super microphone for instance, for me, was a very immersive activity. Because the surroundings is naturally quiet, we were out of the bustling city, I could hear the sounds of birds, scratching of leaves, footsteps, distant conversations peacefully.

Snow is real!!!

To experience snow for the FIRST TIME is a core memory. Enjoy this video

Jams

A jam is a creative collaboration, more common in creating music, but for me the collaboration can be in any medium, with the emphasis on improvisation and freedom. The research trip is full of jams: in our food, music and activities together.

Our food was super, hands-down impressed with all the meals (we should publish a recipe book!).

Playing with Pixels

For my project, I wanted to tackle the transitions and interactions in between the real and virtual (physical and digital). I took inspiration from snow, our jam sessions and nature. More details here

As a change, I didn’t make a trash-based project in this trip. Although I wanted to, there were a lot of stimuli that inspired me to do something else. This led me to a renewed interest in sound-making, which I might now incorporate in my final MDEF project.

Thank you so much to Merce and all the faculty and mentors!