{"id":1373,"date":"2021-11-04T21:19:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T21:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2022-02-09T13:58:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T13:58:55","slug":"under-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/under-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"Under Construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section el_class=»dkw-section-lead»][vc_row][vc_column width=»2\/3″ offset=»vc_col-sm-offset-2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Prototyping a MediaDock at the Lucerne School of Art and Design<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_class=»dkw-section-content»][vc_row][vc_column width=»1\/3″ el_class=»dkw-col-toc» offset=»vc_col-lg-3″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=»2\/3″ el_class=»dkw-col-content» offset=»vc_col-lg-6″][vc_column_text]This article was originally published in the print version of HSLU Magazine Nummer 10, which can be ordered here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Merely making equipment available and implementing established workflows and industry standards is no longer enough in the field of art and design. In order to ensure that teaching in the digital realm remains future oriented, we need to do more than that. We need a flexible, transdisciplinary, experimental space that encourages reflective thinking.
\nIn setting up our MediaDock at the Lucerne School of Art and Design we have created something that goes beyond the \u2039computer room\u203a and its gathering metaphorical dust. The MediaDock makes room for media experiments an encourages playful interaction with a variety of technologies. It holds talks and workshops to activate and serve as a container for reflections on various aspects of the media landscape, as represented by international guest lecturers and experts from within the university. These take a hands-on approach to digital tools \u2013 and not just for the sake of improving digital skills. The aim is to achieve stronger media competency on a conceptual level by encouraging critical reflection on socially relevant and media relevant topics.<\/p>\n

Workshops with a Difference<\/h5>\n

Nobody questions professional infrastructure that facilitates the processing of a wide variety of materials, such as wood and metal, or that is needed for teaching casting and printing techniques, for instance. In line with this, and alongside more traditional photographic infrastructure (studios, negative scanners, photoplotters, hardware and software for image processing), our MediaDock is also equipped with a wide range of enabling technologies such as experimental computers, singleboard computers and microcontrollers, drones, 360\u00b0 cameras and VR stations, 3D scanners and photogrammetric services. But since \u2039the digital\u203a is not a material and \u2039the computer\u203a is not one tool in particular, we need to rethink the workshop as a place of production and reflection that covers the broadest possible range of digital applications. For that we need new conceptual approaches to creating a digital production environment that is equally good at facilitating discourse. The model
\nof the workshop as a place for the specialized processing of materials \u2013 a model that emerged primarily from the Bauhaus \u2013 still runs like a thread through the production workshops at art schools across Switzerland. Of course, digital technologies have already started to find their way into the various workshops at the Lucerne School of Art and Design. Our MediaDock supports and supplements this process. Promoting the multifaceted abundance of digital production methods in a targeted way calls for new approaches that augment the digitally oriented teaching of the various courses and give interested parties opportunities to discover
\nand deepen their capacities in these areas. The following summaries of selected subjects and teaching formats provide an overview of our recent activities.<\/p>\n

Photography as Example<\/h5>\n

The computer is a post-photographic multi-tool in the proper sense of the word. It is at once a recording device, a dark room and an image carrier. In current media production it constantly oscillates between these states. Now more than ever it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between the photograph as image medium and the tools that we use to produce, process and publish our images, namely computers. The production of media artefacts is no longer confined to the creation of single or moving photographic images. It has long since transcended that. Once the shutter has been depressed, various processing procedures
\nand image practices open up an endless wealth of possibilities for dealing with the respective photographic medium, be it in relation to distribution routes, digital economies or digital archives, for instance, or as raw material for further<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 1
A series of images can be used to produce 3D models. This photographybased, contactless reconstruction process forms an interface between the object as physically present and its subsequent digital processing; the 3D models generated can be used for animations, visualizations, digital fabrication and so on.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Soir\u00e9es and Workshops as Transdisciplinary Teaching Formats<\/h5>\n

The regular Soir\u00e9es hosted by the MediaDock have evolved into a transdisciplinary format. In this context we offer short inputs, workshops and talks across a range of disciplines, introductions to specific fields of media technology and debates inspired by critical discourses. For us it is important that these sessions include a mixture of theory based guest talks highlighting fundamental social
\nand media-related issues and practice-oriented teaching that provides a basis for students to develop and create experimental image practices. We want students to explore possibilities that go beyond conventional photographic workflows (put
\nbluntly: photographing, printing and hanging). Such possibilities include using photographic datasets to produce digital 3D models that can then be reused in other contexts: for CNC milling, in animated films or as game design assets (fig. 1).
\nThe MediaDock workshops include introductory sessions on artificial intelligence, 360\u00b0 film, 3D scanning, augmented reality, virtual reality and physical computing. In 2020 we ran our first AI Autumn workshop series with help from the Digital Skills initiative supported by swissuniversities. Thanks to them we were able to invite a team of guest lecturers to run three consecutive workshops:
\nNicolas Malev\u00e9 (Belgium), Guillaume Massol (France, Switzerland) and Gene Kogan (USA). The example of these AI Soir\u00e9es and workshops provides a clear sense of what critical media competency means and how we can immerse ourselves in its different digital fields.<\/p>\n

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Fig. 2 This screenshot show the real-time conversion of a video feed into a style reminiscent of a Picas painting by Style Transfer. This first practical experiment from Guillaume Massol\u2019s AI workshop sought to make artificial intelligence accessible using a boilerplate code toolkit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The AI Autumn of 2020<\/h5>\n

A workshop run by Nicolas Malev\u00e9, who is also active in the research department at the Lucerne School of Art and Design, gave students some insight into how datasets are produced and how they are used in the optimization of machine vision algorithms. As well as producing their own small datasets, students discussed the working conditions that clickworkers have to endure on a daily basis, considered the origins of various datasets and looked at some of the problems that can arise when the categorization of data is conducted in broader social contexts. Through an approach that combined both theory and practice it became clear just how much labour is involved in teaching machines to \u2039see\u203a \u2013 but also what it means to process
\nsuch vast quantities of images and how quickly machine vision actually works.
\nThe in-depth workshops that followed were led by Guillaume Massol and Gene Kogan and provided an introduction to practical applications of AI models in the art and design context. These indepth sessions were developed in collaboration
\nwith the Digital Ideation course. They dealt with questions about using post-photographic tools: using an AI toolkit and a boilerplate code, Massol created a setting that facilitated explorative investigation of some of the diverse possibilities of various AI models (fig. 2). And what happens when photographs become the raw material for training an AI? In one small experiment, Kogan used pictures
\nfrom Beyonc\u00e9’s instagram account to train a StyleGAN. After this brief training the AI generated a set of images that bore a clear aesthetic resemblance to the mini dataset of Beyonc\u00e9 images (fig. 3).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 3 How do you train a StyleGAN (generative adversarial network)? Pictured here are the results of a StyleGAN training that used images taken from Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Instagram account. These are just some of the thousands of images that could potentially be generated by the trained StyleGAN. Here they are arranged in the form of an Instagram page as a reference to the source of the dataset.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The images were reminiscent of Surrealist design principles and the often bizarre shapes associated with Rorschach tests.
\nPlaying around with these models showed how technological processes can be used for art and design purposes. But how can creativity in dealing with such technologies be developed so that design goes beyond the \u2039skilful\u203a application of those technologies? How can designers go beyond merely fulfilling or confirming the programs that run the machines? One instructive example of a subversive use of tools to undermine the program was supplied by Kogan in a third workshop with a
\nrather casually described creative activity: he recently used a FaceApp that put a computer-generated smile on his face. Nothing unexpected about that. But then he repeated the process in a feedback loop, loading the outputs back into the program as inputs. The smile on his face became ever larger. At the same time, the AI \u2013 which wanted to change his appearance while retaining the illusion of a real person \u2013 drew the technological artefacts more and more emphatically, until the
\nFaceApp could no longer see any face at all in the visual product it had created (fig. 4).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 4 Make them Smile. Pictured here is a little experiment conducted by Gene Kogan. The image generated by the FaceApp was fed back into the app in a feedback loop. The smilemaking process was repeated until the FaceApp no longer recognized the image as a face.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Space, Space, Space!<\/h5>\n

Questions such as those triggered by the experimental situations in the abovementioned workshops need space where they can be discussed and developed in thematic media applications. The physical space of the MediaDock is indispensable as a meeting place, but it is soon to be extended into the virtual space of the internet. This dedicated web space will provide online access to information
\nabout the talks, tools and workshops, as well as prototype workflows in the form of online tutorials. As a platform it will continue to promote the exchange of ideas and the networking of knowledge that already happens in the physical space of the MediaDock. That being said, the MediaDock is permanently \u2039under construction\u203a. Its greatest potential lies in its processuality. It is about more than just developing, expanding and incrementally integrating a new type of workshop into every university department. The MediaDock is a place where curiosity can be lived out experimentally, a space that allows for critical engagement on how our experiments relate to the pressing issues of the day. Our MediaDock produces a social space and a space for ideation that supports students in the realization of their creative technological projects and will provide the technical and conceptual tools for the transdisciplinary projects of the future.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=»1\/3″ el_class=»dkw-col-micro» offset=»vc_col-lg-3″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section el_class=»dkw-section-lead»][vc_row][vc_column width=»2\/3″ offset=»vc_col-sm-offset-2″][vc_column_text] Prototyping a MediaDock at the Lucerne School of Art and Design [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section el_class=»dkw-section-content»][vc_row][vc_column width=»1\/3″ el_class=»dkw-col-toc» offset=»vc_col-lg-3″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=»2\/3″ el_class=»dkw-col-content» offset=»vc_col-lg-6″][vc_column_text]This article […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":1383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mediadock"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1450,"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.hslu.ch\/werkstatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}