[Commlist] cfp: MAB20: DIY & more-than-human media architecture workshop

Final Call for Participation

Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2021

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MAB20: DIY & MORE-THAN-HUMAN MEDIA ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP

held in conjunction with the Media Architecture Biennale 2020 in 2021

June 28 -July 2, 2021

Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2021

Workshop Date: 29 June 2021

Workshop Website: 
https://sites.google.com/urbaninformatics.net/mab2020workshop

Workshop Application: 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScETaAPHBzKXntjCnPOQV31kxf8T2aYYfIB_BZALT9L4zXrJA/viewform

Conference Website: 
https://mab20.mediaarchitecture.org/events/diy-more-than-human-media-architecture/

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Workshop Abstract

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In recent years, research in the fields of media architecture and urban 
informatics have made calls to move beyond the human-centred city and 
towards a “more equitable multispecies city” (Van Dooren et al. 2012). 
Working towards future more-than-human cities, the design of hybrid 
digital-physical urban spaces - with an ethos of inclusivity and 
diversity - will require methods, tools, approaches, platforms, etc. to 
engage different communities, environments, and all kinds of nonhuman 
entities and creatures. This workshop poses the following question: 
While considering different characteristics (such as gender, race, 
class, abilities, creed, digital skills, habitat, bio-systems), how can 
citizens engage in creating DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture 
to actively shape their spaces and foster imaginaries of more-than-human 
urban futurity, all while being kinder towards our stressed and fragile 
urban ecology?

As a first step, DIY Media Architecture proposes that communities of 
experts support non-experts to create and design Media Architecture as 
active instigators of change in their own right. A possible strategy may 
lie in mobilizing allegories, entanglements, multispecies world-making, 
speculative prototyping, i.e., techniques to frame and engage 
more-than-human urban futures. This is positioned as empowering the less 
heard as taking charge of their digital-physical canvases throughout 
urban spaces and, as a next step, staking their and all creatures’ 
rights to the city.

The workshop will be conducted online from 24th-29th June 2021. The 
workshop will provide the platform for discussions on alternative 
materials, platforms, strategies and tools for enabling DIY processes of 
the less heard in anthropocentric engagement. The workshop, further, 
encourages participants to bring prototypes, demos, videos and examples 
to broaden the conversation on DIY and More-than-Human Media 
Architecture. This will be collated towards two outcomes; 1) conceptual 
prototypes and 2) participants will be invited to co-author a 
publication. This is in keeping with MAB2020’s Themes & Issues of 
“Citizen’s Digital Rights”, “Playful and Artistic Civic Engagement” and 
“More-Than-Human Cities.”

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Workshop Themes

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We invite architects, designers, artists, academia, students, industry, 
media producers, technologists, psychologists, community practitioners 
and other interdisciplinary participants to help shape the discourse 
around and practice of DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture. The 
workshop themes are:

- Tools, Services, Building Blocks and Case Studies of different types 
of DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture.

- Methods and Methodologies of engaging in DIY and More-than-Human Media 
Architecture Processes, Platforms & Approaches.

- Explorations and reflections of Social and Ethical 
Dimensions/Inquiries of Allegories, Entanglements, Speculative Practice 
through DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture.

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Workshop Participation

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The workshop will involve a format of online presentations in the lead 
up to a workshop/s in 2021. Prospective participants are encouraged to 
contribute a short biography (50 words per author) along with a 
proposal. The proposal can take the form of one of the following:

A brief position paper (500 words, excluding references) OR Visual 
Design Provocation (2-8 pages) on prototype or demo. You can pitch to do 
an online presentation or demonstrate a prototype during the workshops. 
Do indicate the time required for your presentation in your proposal.

Workshop Application: 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScETaAPHBzKXntjCnPOQV31kxf8T2aYYfIB_BZALT9L4zXrJA/viewform

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Key Dates

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Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2021.

Workshop Participant Notification: 14 May 2021.

Schedule of sessions will be available by 1 June 2021.

The Online Workshop will run on 29 June 2021 on Zoom.

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Workshop Organisers

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Kavita Gonsalves | Queensland University of Technology
Greg Nijs | Université Libre de Bruxelles
Waldemar Jenek | Queensland University of Technology
Thomas Laureyssens | LUCA School of Arts

Jorgos Coenen | KU Leuven
Glenda Amayo Caldwell | Queensland University of Technology
Andrew Vande Moere | KU Leuven
Marcus Foth | Queensland University of Technology

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Contact

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k [dot] gonsalves [at] hdr [dot] qut [dot] edu [dot] au
greg [dot] nijs [at] urbanspecies [dot] org

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Media Architecture Biennale 2020

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The Media Architecture Biennale is the world’s premier event on media 
architecture, urban interaction design, digital placemaking, urban media 
art and urban informatics.As we design and adapt new technologies, in 
turn these technologies shape our cities. What future scenarios are 
implied in today’s urban technologies? And how can we shape our 
technologies to respond to their surroundings, contributing to cities 
that are both socially and ecologically sustainable?

Originally, media architecture was most concerned with the integration 
of displays and interactive installations into architectural structures, 
such as media facades and urban screens. Over the years, the discipline 
has grown much broader, as new technologies such as digital platforms 
and smart city technologies have increasingly made their way into the 
experience, management and design of cities.

None of these technologies brought into the city are neutral enablers, 
mere decorative structures or just simple market places connecting 
demand and supply in fields as diverse as energy and transport to 
commerce and leisure. They are built upon numerous spoken and unspoken 
assumptions about urban life, each with their own implications for both 
social relations as well as their effect on the natural ecosystem.It is 
time therefore for the discipline of media architecture to address the 
implied futures of new technologies.

MAB20 calls for media architectures that move beyond the mere 
spectacular; as well as beyond the design of individualized services 
comforting human customers. MAB20 calls for media architectures and 
urban interaction that dare to take on a more-than-human approach: 
aiming at the well-being of the natural ecosystem as a whole; For urban 
media art and design that bring implicit and explicit bias within 
technology and culture to light, and provide the means for ongoing 
discussion, debate, and societal change; For digital platforms that 
strengthen citizen’s digital rights in democratic societies.

Workshop Website: 
https://sites.google.com/urbaninformatics.net/mab2020workshop

Conference Website: https://mab20.mediaarchitecture.org/

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