De-computating emotion

Image credit: John Fass

De-computation is an initiative of the Royal College of Art (RCA), Information Experience Design (IED) programme. In De-computation, the steps of computational thinking are applied to non-digital phenomena in order to deconstruct objects and systems, recognise patterns, abstract core principles, and create new work that questions existing forms and provides new perspectives. For the STATE festival, a selection of student projects will be shown, which de-compute emotion, producing engaging design objects, situations and interventions. The work on display will be the result of a three-week project led by interaction designer, and IED Visiting Lecturer John Fass, and fashion designer and PhD researcher on fashion and affective soft robotics, Caroline Yan Zheng.

John Fass will also be leading a specially designed workshop along with Raphael de Courville as part of the PopUp Lab by Futurium and STATE, 27-28th October. Outcomes of this De-computation workshop will also be exhibited as part of the Gallery Zone on Floor 2. 

RCA, IED projects selected include Phone-Wrecker and Perpetua Frustra Conatus.

Phone-Wrecker, RCA, IEA 2016

Phone-Wrecker

with Robert Marshall, Linh Pham, and Greg Orrom Swan

Anticipation is a dynamic, transitional state of emotion that manifests when we expect a certain outcome to happen. The intensity of anticipation – which may be combined with hope, excitement, apprehension, or fear – correlates strongly with how much we care about the impact of a particular outcome. The designers put their own phones in potentially dangerous situations, highlighting the emotional attachment most of us have for these delicate, yet powerful devices that intimately involve themselves in our everyday life. The designers hope you take care of their phones, as they need them tomorrow.

Perpetua Frustra Conatos, RCA, IEA 2016

Perpetua Frustra Conatos

with Jack Alexandroff, Albert Barbu, Taeyoung Choi, Eleni Papazoglou

Perpetua Frustra Conatus is a kinetic sculpture that conveys a sense of empathy towards a struggling, yet non-living object. Displayed half finished, as if the taxidermist stepped away from his workbench, the specimen desperately attempts to escape in self-preservation, while creating an uncanny symbiosis between the living and the inert.