There are still some outposts of industry amongst the bars and retaurants on the gentrifying streets of east london. This building is on Orsman Road near regents canal in Shoreditch. It’s now used as artists studios but as I passed I had a vision of engineers engaged in research, sat in workshops with calibrated tools. This was a vingette of engineering from the 50’s and 60’s, and likely straight from NASA’s beautiful image archives.

Ah how times have changed. Buildings change, our attitudes about what engineering is have perhaps changed, and through this project we hope to give an idea of how research is changing. More ambitiously, the project asks – how should we describe the relationship between the outcomes of research and our experiences of change? With this in mind we’re been busy visiting engineering departments to interview researchers about what they do and why they do it. I’ll shortly add videos and other documentation to this site, so stay tuned. There are some initial details on this page, get in touch if you want to open your doors and talk about your own work.

Science & Public 2007 took place on Saturday 19th May at Imperial College. It was organised and hosted by the Science Communication Group, with the aim of bringing together “diverse strands of academia that consider science as it intersects with non-scienfific cultures” (reference from the welcome pack).

There was indeed a broad range of papers, including a short presentation I gave on Biojewellery. I was excited by a session called “Constructing pasts and futures” which included papers from David A. Kirby, Mark Erickson and Alice Bell.

David A. Kirby’s paper was fascinating, exploring the role of technical advisers in Hollywood. These advisers were drawn from science and engineering communities, translating the detail of current research into a “realistic” narrative about technological futures. Kirby describes these expert-curated representations of technology in film as “diegetic protoypes”.

I argue in this essay that for Hollywood technical advisors cinematic depictions of future technologies are actually “diegetic prototypes” that demonstrate to large
public audiences a technology’s need, benevolence, and viability. I show how diegetic prototypes have a major rhetorical advantage over true prototypes: in the diegesis these technologies exist as “real” objects that function properly and which people actually use.

Kirby showed a clip from Destination Moon (1950), a space rocket launch sequence with the actors cheeks wobbling realistically, and another clip of a high-powered military meeting where the race to the moon is gravely revealed to be a race for a lunar weapons launching base. Powerful arguments for the mechanisms through which potential applications of science and technology become described by film, and imbibed with cultural value.

Still from Destination Moon (1950) referenced in Kirby’s paper.

MADE is a network of professional bodies and research centres, aiming to build bridges between design and material engineering. Here’s how the MADE website describes itself:

The Materials and Design Exchange – MADE – brings together the communities of design and materials technology in order to stimulate innovation, promote the transfer of materials knowledge and improve the competitiveness of UK business.

MADE also publishes a newsletter, the lateset version is available here as a pdf.

To provide some context, MADE is part of a Knowledge Transfer Network. KTNs are supported by the Department for Trade and Industry to encourage knowledge sharing between research and industry, to bring about innovation and general goodness.

Design and the Elastic Mind is the title of an exhibition taking place at MoMA in February 2008. It’s early days and there are not many details about the event, but my interest was piqued by the following statement”

[the exhibition] focuses on designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes which will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people can actually understand and use.

It’s an interesting assertion, and a bold claim to make for design, which perhaps plays a more integrated role amongst a broader network of industries, individuals and technologies. What the statement captures well, is that some kind of translation or normalisation takes place alongside technological change, and that design surely plays a role by contributing “thoughtful concepts that can provide guidance and ease as science and technology proceed in their evolution”. I’m looking forward to seeing how this exhibition develops.

Material Beliefs is interested in exploring technologies that are being used to repair and extend the functions of our bodies.

While popular representations of these technologies create discussion and excitement, with your help we would like to show an account of current research activity, and how it is expected to lead to new products and services.

This is a chance for you to talk about the opportunities offered by the technologies you are engaged in, and to describe your enthusiasm for what you are doing.

Let us know if you would like to be interviewed about your work, and we can arrange a visit to suit you.

A workshop at The Womens Library brought together a group of 30 people from engineering, design, science communication and social sciences. The day started with a series of presentations featuring collaborative projects, followed by two breakout sessions to discuss some the issues associated with running these types of project.

There’s a pdf of the workshop handout here, and a presentation of the project here. Documentation about the event will follow shortly in the events section.

An exhibition of the Biojewellery project has been installed at Central Middlesex Hospital. Here’s a map of the area around the hospital which is part of the North West London Hospitals NHS Trust. The exhibition is part of NWLH Arts programme, and has been kindly supported by its director Candice Hurwitz, and Karen Sarkissian at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity.

On 19th March, LCACE held a one day conference at the Unicorn Theatre. It’s theme was partnerships between higher education and the arts and cultural industries. Along with Janis Jefferies, Marian Ursu, Nina Wakeford, Mark d’Inverno and Jane Prophet, I was invited to join a group from Goldsmiths to help deliver a morning workshop.

Our theme was “Arts and Technology – Issues arising from collaboration”. I presented Biojewellery as an example of a collaborative project between engineers and designers. I also described the way that practice of this kind creates links to many other people, who can equally be thought of as collaborators. These include other science workers, ethicists, and of course members of the public.

I came away thinking that while from the outside these collaborations are described through mechanisms like knowledge transfer, it is the texture and specifity of a shared practice that is interesting. This made me feel relived that I have an oppurtunity to make and do things, as well as thinking about how they might best be made or done.

RESEARCHER – 2 POSTS
Up to £34,888 pa incl
Part time (0.2ftte) 14 months fixed term
New Cross, London

Material Beliefs is funded by the EPSRC and based in the Interaction Research Studio, within the Department of Design, Goldsmiths, University of London. Material Beliefs will focus on technologies which blur the boundaries between our bodies and materials. How can we deploy design to invigorate a public discussion about the value of these forms of hybridity?

The aim of this project is to pair experienced research engineers and designers through a residency program, which will lead to a series of public exhibitions and engagement events. You will be supported in the creation of a collaborative residency based in an engineering department at a UK university. There are two broad phases to the role, with a seven month period of exploratory research followed by a seven month period of design and development.

You will have a Postgraduate design qualification or equivalent and be an experienced maker with a range of design skills and research portfolio. You will have an interest in challenging the role of design research and also have the ability to work in a team and on your own using own initiative.
Excellent communication and organisational skills are also essential.

For further information:
www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/personnel
hr@gold.ac.uk
020 7919 7999
Please quote ref: 07/95RE

Closing date: Monday 26 March 2007 by 5.00pm Interview date: week commencing 9 April 2007

Committed to equal opportunities

Material Beliefs Workshop – 18th April 2007

A one day workshop in London to explore partnerships between engineers and designers for public engagement.

The overall theme of Material Beliefs is to encourage a public debate over the impact of technologies which give rise to novel interactions between our bodies and materials. In what ways will we become extended, dispersed, improved, displaced, or empowered by new arrangements of engineering around and within our bodies?

The workshop is a one day event on April 18th. A group of 30 will be drawn from engineering and design backgrounds, as well as from science communication and social sciences.

In the morning there will be a range of short presentations about recent collaborations between designers and engineers. Moving into the afternoon, there will be a set of activities aimed at creating a model for embedding designers within UK engineering departments, and to hopefully set up some collaborations.

If you be interested in attending the workshop – to see what is going on and to contribute to the activities – please contact Andy Robinson or Tobie Kerridge:

andy@materialbeliefs.co.uk
tobie@materialbeliefs.co.uk

In particular we’re looking for engineers who work in a field related to the project theme (bodies and technology), and are looking for the chance to do exciting collaborations with designers for public engagement.

Thank you for your interest, more details will be posted shortly.