MOTYF FESTIVAL 2021–2022: COMMUNICATING COMPLEXITY

The Covid-19 pandemic and accelerating climate change have laid bare the horrifying nature of global capitalism. We have no choice but to imagine different socio-political-technical configurations—a massively complex endeavour. Many theorists who imagine a post-scarcity future rely on a false idea about the power of automation, the prominence of which belies other economic shifts. If “abundance is not a technological threshold to be crossed,” however, but instead a “social relationship,” what does a post-scarcity society actually look like? This workshop—a theory-driven seminar-studio hybrid—asks what a post-capitalist, post-scarcity society might look like, and how design is done in such a society. It will critically engage with ideas about automation and ask what design means when basic human needs are met, economic growth is no longer an imperative, and necessary labor is shared and not relegated to certain classes of society.

Animated Conversations: Creating a system of dialectic, gestural, emotive micro-interactions to augment virtual conversations. A taxonomy of abstracted, threaded movement acts can capture points of view involving actions, practices, interactions, activities, (inter)actions, reactions, human activity, and social practices. Through a series of group activities, demonstrations and discussions, students will seek to co-design a series of animated glyphs to convey attitudes, reactions, and feelings as conversational support in a deprived virtual setting. The group will attempt to finalize the system as a singular taxonomy to aid in virtual conversations with an emphasis on sharing creativity and critique.

New and evolving technologies allow and challenge designers to create new ways to communicate with an audience. Virtual and augmented reality technologies are slowly adopted more widely and even the web still evolves with technologies like WebGL and WebXR. While planning and designing on paper is still essential, testing and experimenting is crucial while exploring interactive applications. This workshop will look at Unity to quickly and easily create prototype applications in the context of visualization. While not everyone has to become an expert programmer, having a basic understanding will help to explore and communicate more clearly with other team members.This workshop is aimed at people with little or no experience in programming.

This online masterclass will introduce students to the fundamental conceptual and technical skills employed by Weta Workshop for creating Imaginary Worlds in 2D concept design. Students will receive a story driven brief that they can then adapt for a genre of their choosing; Science-fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk etc. They will then be given the opportunity to choose design briefs from a variety of speciality concept design areas; Character, Costume, Creature, Prop, Vehicle, Environment and Key-scene Design. Instruction is tailored to each student's skill level, with Paul reviewing and drawing directly over a student's work throughout the five days.

Live data and social media have sparked the development today’s information-driven culture. Every day we do nothing but create data. We spend a lot of times worrying about the data being captured by Facebook, WhatsApp, and TikTok, but what about the other data that we are letting pass by. The bird your dog barked at on his walk. Your giggle at that silly joke. The leaves falling in your yard. You are a dynamic data set. You will gather yourself. Your Spotify playlists. Your Twitter timeline. What you like on Instagram and/or Reddit. The movies you watch (or haven't watched.) The books on your shelf or the cars you have own. The things that make you cry, or smile. In this class, we will collect it. We will be creative and generous and create a unique dataset that is a portrait of you.

Rapid technological development makes future developments almost impossible to predict. Technology is getting smaller, cheaper and more integrated with the human body. What happens when humans physically merge with machines? Cyborg-Centered Design is based on the realization that the relationship between humans and technology is changing. Technology is starting to merge with human identity and individuality. Cyborgs are human beings that have been permanently enhanced by it. The course introduces students to the topic, and investigates - always with a critical and speculative eye - the possible effects of this transformation.

In this workshop we will learn the Basics of the the visual live-programming environment vvvv gamma. After getting control over the software we will tackle following topics depending on the remaining time: Programming basic aka object oriented patching; 2D data visualisation; RunwayML; Computer vision and 3D realtime rendering.

This workshop is a hands-on experience aimed at students and professionals working in an environment that requires presenting complex information in effective ways in order to capture the imagination of an audience, enhance understanding, raise awareness, support informed decisions and ultimately create change. Participants will be introduced to the world of data storytelling where the intersection of text and image, perception and cognition, beauty and function, logic and emotion enables us to create splendid visions, to reveal what hides behind the data and to address effective messages.