ESAD - Valenciennes
mentor/
Corradino Garofalo
Raphaël Coutin
theme/
(non)conversation
students/
Bachelor & Master
Art & design
Date/
28 April - 4 May 2022
Location/
Plug-in City Eindhoven
On January 12th 1881 at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, the first phone booth ‘Fernsprechkiosk’ was erected in public space. This particular space of communication increasingly became a landmark in our cities, defining a specific physical place for distant connections. A public space to become instantly but temporarily very intimate and personal - a place to purposely be detached from the environment.
This narrative represents the starting point of our workshop. We would like to reflect upon today’s tools of communication and how they affect our perception of space. How have the constant streams of information at our fingertips redefined our idea of public space? Can / shall we escape the network in order to be fully present in the moment? Shall we design off grid spaces within our cities or plan a disconnected day? Where could we escape society in a future scenario when communication tools will be under our skin?
On one hand, our social lives are split between physical and digital presence. If these two spheres are not coinciding we experience misplacement: we feel we don’t belong anywhere, we are incapable of living the moment and interacting just with the people around us. On the other hand, human activities are increasingly moving from the physical world to the digital one, leaving behind a big chunk of the population which is unable to catch up with it or doesn’t even have access to it (e.g. developing countries).
To bring some answers or to raise even more questions, we would like to challenge you during a 6-day workshop to reflect on such a framework through a series of exercises, discussions and prototypes.
This narrative represents the starting point of our workshop. We would like to reflect upon today’s tools of communication and how they affect our perception of space. How have the constant streams of information at our fingertips redefined our idea of public space? Can / shall we escape the network in order to be fully present in the moment? Shall we design off grid spaces within our cities or plan a disconnected day? Where could we escape society in a future scenario when communication tools will be under our skin?
On one hand, our social lives are split between physical and digital presence. If these two spheres are not coinciding we experience misplacement: we feel we don’t belong anywhere, we are incapable of living the moment and interacting just with the people around us. On the other hand, human activities are increasingly moving from the physical world to the digital one, leaving behind a big chunk of the population which is unable to catch up with it or doesn’t even have access to it (e.g. developing countries).
To bring some answers or to raise even more questions, we would like to challenge you during a 6-day workshop to reflect on such a framework through a series of exercises, discussions and prototypes.
mentor/
Lorenzo Gerbi
Corradino Garofalo
Raphaël Coutin
theme/
AUTOMATON
students/
Bachelor & Master
Art & design
Date/
29 April - 5 May 2019
Location/
Plug-in City Eindhoven
As we acknowledge and celebrate the 500th death anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci in 2019, we will explore the world of machines and automaton - a pretext to reflect upon the automated world and to experiment with engineered movement.
This bootcamp aims to trigger the imagination and speculate on machines functioning in a dystopian future. Starting from your personal vision, working on a dystopian scenario, we will imagine a lost city with its machines, their purpose, the space and environment in which they will function. Based upon the constructed scenario, you will work in group to design a machine, a tool or an automaton (a self-operating machine).
As a result of the bootcamp, we expect a series of machines, engine or human-powered and presented in a dystopian context, in a future society. We foresee the inclusion of all the media necessary to express this vision (models, videos, drawings), in order to immerse ourselves in this imaginary world and experience it.
mentor/
Lorenzo Gerbi
Corradino Garofalo
Raphaël Coutin
theme/
ME, MYSELF & THE CITY
students/
Bachelor & Master
Art & design
Date/
21 April - 28 April 2018
Location/
Baltan Laboratories
Through the workshop, we will aim to define our stands as designers through the interaction in the context of Eindhoven. We want to experience a linear process of creation, where mistake and hesitation become part of the final outcome. The constant dialogue between the designer and his perception of the surrounding space will take shape into a new and unique kind of physical interface.
We will question our perception of space and our surrounding. How as designers we see the world? Can a design artifact define and change our perception? If so, how can we share our standpoint through a mask or any kind of wearable?
We will contemplate the city of Eindhoven, its landscapes, spaces, and environment to find the place that could help each student as a designer to express their message. The way we look at our surrounding is also the way we tend to act on the same, therefore as designers what we create defines our interaction with the specific environment. To do that we will engage with the sitting act. Each student will have the same starting point which will inevitably evolve differently according to their personal perspective and context they choose to work with.
As a design method, we will use an accumulative learning process. The tryouts, experiments, and failed attempts will define our design strategy. We want the adhocratic sum to define our outcomes, rather than a clean sheet every time, erasing and starting all over. Our first model will define the next interaction and successively till the device is finished. This process will also allow us to reverse engineer the outcome to find the reasons, and steps in our process, our failures, and choices. Somehow the final piece will be a map of our experience.
We expect an object, a sculpture, an interface to understand you, the creator, within the city of Eindhoven.
We will question our perception of space and our surrounding. How as designers we see the world? Can a design artifact define and change our perception? If so, how can we share our standpoint through a mask or any kind of wearable?
We will contemplate the city of Eindhoven, its landscapes, spaces, and environment to find the place that could help each student as a designer to express their message. The way we look at our surrounding is also the way we tend to act on the same, therefore as designers what we create defines our interaction with the specific environment. To do that we will engage with the sitting act. Each student will have the same starting point which will inevitably evolve differently according to their personal perspective and context they choose to work with.
As a design method, we will use an accumulative learning process. The tryouts, experiments, and failed attempts will define our design strategy. We want the adhocratic sum to define our outcomes, rather than a clean sheet every time, erasing and starting all over. Our first model will define the next interaction and successively till the device is finished. This process will also allow us to reverse engineer the outcome to find the reasons, and steps in our process, our failures, and choices. Somehow the final piece will be a map of our experience.
We expect an object, a sculpture, an interface to understand you, the creator, within the city of Eindhoven.
mentor/
Joan Vellvé Rafecas
Corradino Garofalo
Raphaël Coutin
theme/
TABOOS
students/
Bachelor & Master
Art & design
Date/
28 April - 5 May 2017
Location/
Plug-in-City 2017
This workshop dives into taboos and aims to understand the line drawn in different society between what is permitted and prohibited, between the correct and the disapproved, between the social and antisocial.
This workshop aims to discover tools designers have to communicate and express their opinion and their vision but also how the designer uses her/his body to articulate a story. The student will explore a societal taboo and design an artifact or a space in which the topic will be asserted and illustrate in a performative way. As designers we design our surrounding, the object we interact with but how could those elements react and help us communicating our statement.
We will use the context of Plug-in-City to propagate our point of view on certain taboos. We expect the result of this workshop to be a performative act in a specific spot of PiC, the student will design the space and all elements: artefact prostetics (...etc) necessary for her/his action.
The week will start with two days of exercises to get into a provocative mood. We will experiment and get familiar with the space of PiC and with the materials we have at our disposal. After that, we will jump into the core of the workshop. Students will be working in pairs and decide on a taboo, a sensitive topic to explore. We expect the topic to be based on a personal experience and that it will push the designer to take a clear position and make a strong statement.
In addition, the development of the work and thoughts will be gathered by the students, in collaboration. They will have the task to communicate all the projects outside of Plug-in-City and unify them behind a common banner.
This workshop aims to discover tools designers have to communicate and express their opinion and their vision but also how the designer uses her/his body to articulate a story. The student will explore a societal taboo and design an artifact or a space in which the topic will be asserted and illustrate in a performative way. As designers we design our surrounding, the object we interact with but how could those elements react and help us communicating our statement.
We will use the context of Plug-in-City to propagate our point of view on certain taboos. We expect the result of this workshop to be a performative act in a specific spot of PiC, the student will design the space and all elements: artefact prostetics (...etc) necessary for her/his action.
The week will start with two days of exercises to get into a provocative mood. We will experiment and get familiar with the space of PiC and with the materials we have at our disposal. After that, we will jump into the core of the workshop. Students will be working in pairs and decide on a taboo, a sensitive topic to explore. We expect the topic to be based on a personal experience and that it will push the designer to take a clear position and make a strong statement.
In addition, the development of the work and thoughts will be gathered by the students, in collaboration. They will have the task to communicate all the projects outside of Plug-in-City and unify them behind a common banner.
mentor/
Joan Vellvé Rafecas
Corradino Garofalo
Raphaël Coutin
theme/
HOSPITALITY
students/
Bachelor & Master
Art & design
Date/
23 April - 30 April 2016
Location/
Plug-in-City
This workshop aims to explore the topic of hospitality. It is based on the will to empower personal perspectives and to create dialogue for collaboration. From the starting point of a personal trigger through the workshop, a constant back and forth will be developed; from concept to image, drawing to maquette, thought to intervention, we will explore the limitations of hospitality, collaboration and individual.
We expect the result of this workshop would leave several interventions on the plug in city terrain that foster people’s experience of Plug-in-City.
In addition, the development of our work, thoughts and collaboration will be gather along the week by the students and mentors to constitue an physical archive of reflections, pictures, samples... This archive will be growing in the ‘Vertical Gallery’ of FC. It will become a tool to understand and take a step back of our process of designing.
We expect the result of this workshop would leave several interventions on the plug in city terrain that foster people’s experience of Plug-in-City.
In addition, the development of our work, thoughts and collaboration will be gather along the week by the students and mentors to constitue an physical archive of reflections, pictures, samples... This archive will be growing in the ‘Vertical Gallery’ of FC. It will become a tool to understand and take a step back of our process of designing.