Shaping Sustainability (Asynchronous Session)
Dimensional Artist’s Books and Digital Design – Stories of Inspiring Creative Women : Survivors/Lives Rebuilt and Cultural Production by Eastern European Twentieth Century Immigrants and Heroines View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Leslie Nobler
This is an intensive project blending deeper levels of art and cultural cross-fertilization (folklore/ spiritual/domestic "crafts") research, with social issues and digital art production. My research gradually focusing on immigration and social justice, study at archives of former periods of mass immigration to North America, and refugee-ism from Eastern Europe enabled information-gathering about those from an earlier era, particularly the ethnic cleansing horrors of the early-mid 20th century. Stories, narratives, motifs, cultural visual symbols and portraits were amassed. During 10 months of quarantine, as the project went predominantly online, it crystalized into a tighter grouping of inspiring females who faced hardships, from misogyny/prejudice/bias/anti-Semitism to war and genocide – and were compelled to rebuild their lives. Portraits of these women - made from off-label uses of substrates and inkjet printers and mixed-media - would become pages of the scultpturally-designed artist's book. Next, a limited edition of this book will be produced and distributed to immigration centers, public schools, Holocaust and Genocide Studies departments – along with other Holocaust Study Centers, and both interfaith alliance and synagogue book collections/libraries. The project engages advanced student-interns and members of our university's Genocide Studies Center. For all, is profound to revisit these stories of resilience and recognize their connection to today's implicit bias and resurgence of white supremacism. It is intended for education and all manner of art/heritage experience venues.
Bridging Minds and Hearts Through Design: Promoting Connections Between Stakeholders to Foster Collaboration Concerning Sustainability Projects in Complex Systems View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lucas Rafael Ivorra Peñafort, Matthew Parnell, Kurt W. Seemann
In Colombia, trusting others is challenging, according to reports from Edelman and other organisations. Trust, however, remains critical to the success of inter-organisations when addressing complex issues where one organisation alone is too small to convert challenges into a livelihood opportunity (e.g., waste management); besides, there are increasing pressures to transition to a circular economy, such as market trends and legislation (e.g., Resolution 1407/2018). Stakeholders in the waste system in Colombia, then, need to find ways to build trust, engage better and collaborate to support the transition. This paper reports on research to understand how stakeholders build trust and collaborate in sustainability projects based on a case study in Medellín with the plastic packaging industry as part of the Waste to Opportunity (W2O) Initiative. In this context, a literature review demonstrates that human beings' emotional domain is relevant for building better collaborative relationships. Experiential data was collected from a range of government, industry, and non-government stakeholders through three design-thinking/adaptive leadership workshops; further, twenty-seven participant interviews complemented the data. Workshop participants were encouraged to identify challenges and propose solutions to perceived problems while building trust and engagement through fostering emotional connections. These activities have helped to broaden the understanding of how stakeholders build trust and collaborate in complex human systems. It could also help stakeholders to learn how to adapt to dynamic challenges and learn from every interaction. The authors acknowledge the contributions of the W2O team members Dr Carlos Serrano, Dr María Camacho, and Mr José González.
Design and Memory: We Design What Shapes Us View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andreas Sicklinger, Michele Zannoni, Giorgio Dall'osso
The living space has always been the focus of the designer's attention. The relationship that is established between the two is subject to a twofold movement: space shapes itself and shapes us. The physical and infrastructural properties that characterize the environment play an active and dialogical role with its residents. Space is a medium between building, person and community; This has always been the case, although this characteristic is even more evident today in digital ecosystems. The city's common area is in a historic crisis, which has recently been compounded by the global pandemic. The significant emptying of public space prompts designers to move their actions around new hubs of several projects, the main elements of which are emotion and memory. The design processes must be able to take emotional aspects into account. Beyond form and material, the projects will capture new functions aimed at generating positive emotions. Projects applied to non-places need to focus on issues such as good manners, the effect of the positive masks of good neighborliness, and creating a shared memory together. The purpose of this study is to emphasize that design as a narrative process of a place and not just as the elaboration of creative synthesis offers the possibility to control the transformations of common spaces by generating belonging and identity through the actions of the participants.
Effective Communication with the Public on Water Quality through a Light-art Installation View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Chanyaporn Bstieler, Laphonphat Doungploy
Public awareness and engagement on environmental problems are essential to instigating a positive change. This paper reports the development of a kinetic light-art installation that aims to communicate the scientific data of water quality to raise public awareness in Bangkok. It selected two key water quality indicators - dissolved oxygen (DO) and turbidity. Based on the psychology of color and human preference toward an object with curved contours, the curvature effect, the sculpture employed aquatic algae form and three light colors (blue, yellow, and red). Water Quality Index (WQI) standard provided five reference levels ranging from 0-100. Generative design software, Touch Designer, and Madmapper was used to create and to display the video file on the sculpture’s low-power RGB LED light. It would also open or close according to the level of DO. The light sculpture was installed next to the pier for two nights during a local art festival and its effectiveness was assessed using a questionnaire survey. Forty-five residents and visitors participated in the survey, and nine of them gave their opinion on whether the light art installation would be useful for the community. The results suggested that some seventy-eight percent estimated the WQI correctly, and most interviewees agreed that a light-art installation would be useful and a beautiful reminder of the water pollution problem. Despite the installation's limited time, this study's light color, patterns, and movements effectively and creatively convey the water quality to the public in this context.
