In this day and age, robots are presented as the embodiment of precision, speed and efficiency. And they are: working relentlessly, day and night on factory floors around the world, churning out goods faster than ever. As a consequence their practical use is mostly limited to capitalistic logics expecting return on investment, or academic logics expecting research publications. The Center for Counter-Productive Robotics is an island where these concerns are thrown out of the window, and robots are deliberately approached with failure, laziness and clumsiness in mind. In this way the center develops a more human-centric approach to robotics.
Workshop (2018) by Antoine Barras, Maya Bellier, Pablo Bellon, Ivan Chestopaloff, Bastien Claessens, Guillaume Giraud, Léonard Guyot, Evan Kelly, Lisa Kishtoo, Kylan Luginbühl, Paul Lëon, Aurélien Pellegrini, Yael Sidler
BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Pauline Saglio, Vincent Jacquier
Fantastic Smartphones – a series of interactive installations developed by students in Bachelor Media & Interaction Design at ECAL, investigating in a critical and offbeat way our relationship with smartphones and the way they influence our daily behavior. See the press room
BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Pauline Saglio, Christophe Guignard, Alain Bellet, Gaël Hugo, Lara Défayes, Laura Nieder
Unbubble is an interactive installation in which a robot explores a user’s smartphone to analyze their Instagram usage. This intrusive act highlights a paradox: if it’s rare to hand one’s phone to a machine, we nonetheless do so every day by letting algorithms collect our data. Our online habits shape a tailor-made reality that filters, sorts, suggests, and sometimes limits our horizons. Unbubble questions how our digital traces construct a fragmented image of ourselves — one that is then used to guide our choices, desires, and attention. The installation invites us to become aware of these mechanisms and opens up a space to imagine other narratives, other ways of navigating, and other worlds to explore beyond the paths laid out by algorithms.
BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Alain Bellet, Cyril Diagne, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo
Nelson is a tiny connected module designed to to bring everyday objects to life remotely. It’s based on a very simple forwards and backwards movement as we do in our everyday life, like pushing a switch. Connected to the internet it triggers setups previously defined by the user. Designed and built with the help of designer Arthur Didier, this project is the completion of my studies, working in most of the fields of interaction design and industrial design to mix both towards an innovative creation.
BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio
In an environment where the line between digital and tangible is becoming increasingly thin, having an existence in immaterial spaces implies shaping and maintaining an avatar that is often created in one’s own image. Living in these in-between worlds inevitably leads to the development of a more or less strong connection with one’s own digital representations. This is notably the case of my own avatar, with whom I share more than just a well-defined clothing style. In Mirror Me-rror, she and I become one. By using my physical and digital data to influence her abilities as my “virtual self”, I find myself constantly connected to her. With this project, I question the relationship that each of us nurtures with our digital identities and offer a gamified perspective of our own lives.
BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio
Today, for many, the memories that remain are only those of images taken with digital cameras. Through this continuous storage process, we offload those moments by trusting instantaneous backups. MEMOGRAM challenges this delegation by offering a time capsule in the form of tickets, accompanying our memories with textual clues and descriptions. www.memogram.ch