About these three presentations

1. Machine in Flux – Wood
Sunjoo Lee and Ko de Beer are busy with examining the relation between technology and nature. Machine in Flux – Wood is their current project, an art installation which a delicate drawing robot mimics the behaviour and form of trees. The drawing records changing elements of its environment such as light, wind, temperature, sound, etc. The machine has a few simple rules in using these stimuli to constantly grow and influence its drawing. As these rules affect each other, the behaviour of the machine becomes complex. Thereby a unique, organic form emerges through time.

In this presentation Sunjoo and Ko will share with the public their process in this project, and their inspirations about trees and machines.

The project is supported by Stichting MAD, Cultuur Eindhoven, and seeks advice from tree professionals in Wagningen University & Research.

About the speakers. Sunjoo & Ko. Sunjoo Lee is an artist and filmmaker based in Eindhoven. She is interested in topics that question ‘science versus intuition’. Ko de Beer is an autodidact in electronics and creative coding, who loves to explore the world of robotics and analog synthesizers. Together they are now artists in residence at MAD emergent art center, developing crossover projects in art and technology.

Sunjoo and Ko as an artist duo, try to question the main drive of technology development which are utilisation and productivity. Instead they try to investigate the meeting point of machine and nature, in aspects of their behaviour and form. This project aims to seek possibilities of future machines and technical environment as intuitive, creative, and organically behaving entities. In the lecture, they wish to share their inspirations, combined with explanations on the process of their project ‘Machine in Flux – Wood’.

2. Intro to Biomimicry – Innovation inspired by Nature
Drones resembling dragonflies, trains inspired by the beak of a kingfisher and self-driving cars that behave like swarms. Just a few examples of innovations developed with knowledge from nature, also called ‘biomimicry’.

Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies—new ways of living—that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul.

The core idea is that nature has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. Imagine a world where everything we make is inspired by, and connected to, the natural world. After 3.8 billion years of research and development (a process called evolution) failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival.

About the speaker: Bas Sanders. He is specialized in applying biomimicry in high-tech and design in practice and has given many (guest)lectures about nature inspired innovation. Graduated as mechanical engineer and ecologist. Co-founder and now ambassador of the non-profit organization biomimicryNL. Former owner of Sanders Machinebouw. Member of the board of inspiration of Van Gogh National Park i.o. and nowadays innovation- and design consultant at his company Buitenwaarts in Eindhoven.

3. Zero Waste Zone
In our presentation we want to show that to change the world we must first change our habits. We want to share with people our love for Earth and nature.

Our message is simple – we, humans, must understand that we are part of the ecosystem and we must adjust our way of living to the laws of nature. It will not work for much longer pressing nature to achieve our greedy needs.

For us Zero Waste is mainly about reducing consumerism and creating an ecologically rational society. We want to change wishful thinking into wishful acting. Get involved instead of shifting responsibility.

Our personal motivation is to contribute to the community and develop environmental culture. We believe that life is not about money making. It is about creating value of existence and having respect for each other and for nature.

About the speakers: Darin Arouri and Valeria Druzhynets.

We are two Easter European women living in Eindhoven and actually doing the change.

What we want to achieve is first create awareness then change habits. We started with ourselves and now we want to bring people together to create an ecologically conscious and responsibie society.

About this presentation

“Brainport Connects“ is a research through design experiment conducted within the Effenaar Social Cohesion Fieldlab. The experiment was granted a PPS toeslag (private-public partnership allowance) of 10 000 Euros for research from ClickNL. The scope of the Social Cohesion Fieldlab is to find solutions to societal problems regarding social cohesion through a technological prototype. The ultimate goal of the Fieldlab is to generate knowledge for creative industries.

“Brainport Connects“ aims at creating playful opportunities for connection between multi-cultural event attendees in the Brainport region. Sub-goals are the creation of sustainable ties and open relationships between strangers from different cultural backgrounds, especially between Dutch and expats.

The prototype consists of a mobile application containing three types of social games: treasure hunting for people, team games and puzzle games. The main concept revolves around self-disclosure: the games use information players reveal before the play to personalize the experience. The app was used in an experiment at “Let’s Spring Together“, an event organized by International Creative Women. The result is a research paper which contains design guidelines and opportunities for creatives who wish to implement similar concepts to connect multicultural event audiences.

About Irina Bianca Serban

My name is Bianca, I am a freshly graduated Digital Product Designer with a Masters in Industrial Design and a Bachelor in Computer Science, both from TU/e. Empathy is one of my biggest pluses (and minuses) and, therefore, my work is very user-centered. I like all my designs to be inspired by my own experiences or the experiences of the world around me that I can truly understand and empathize with. I believe that only then can I deliver a truly useful product. I am fond of topics such as the design of tangible or digital interfaces, rich design and interaction, aesthetical properties of materials and the use of new technologies to solve societal problems or create new, exciting and entertaining user experiences. My main mission is to have users learn/think/feel through my designs and offer them a memorable experience.

Interested in this insightful presentation, then book your place now.

About these two presentations

1. ECO village: Design fiction for sustainability by Renee Nortman (Msc)
What is better: re-using a plastic bag 3 times, or using a cotton bag 10 times? Taking shorter showers or skipping that hamburger for once? Many people realize that they should be sustainable but the amount of information about the topic is overwhelming. On top of that, it’s hard to see whether you actually have an impact. With the ECO village, we wanted to let people look into the future. We applied design fiction to create a tangible future world that was influenced by sustainable actions people performed. They could interact with the future through an AR app that tells the story of their future society and to learn how they shaped this society through the actions they perform today. In this talk I will share insights on the design process of the ECO village and how we can use similar methodologies in many different contexts.

About Rene Nortman.

Renee Noortman is a design researcher with a focus of user-centred design, design fiction and speculative design. She uses future scenarios to encourage people to envision and shape the future, with a strong focus on the role that technology will play in this future. She obtained both her BSc and MSc from the department of Industrial Design at Eindhoven University of Technology, where she is soon starting her PhD.

2. Co-responsibility by Laura Jonker
Did you ever worked in a team with people from different backgrounds?
The topic of this presentation is about co-responsibility. Co-responsibility argues that people’s responsibilities in society are interdependent. Take the example of a soccer match: each of the players’ roles within the team, the coach and even the spectators affect the results of the match, but they all have the same goal, which is winning.

During this presentation you will get to know the Co-responsiblity, a Health care applied design project, in relation to a sick patient who is supported by his closest contacts in order to acquire a new life-style.

About Laura Jonker. She is currently bachelor Industrial Design student at the Eindhoven University of Technology interested in healthcare, design and human being.

By joining this workshop, you will pioneer in this “new” industry, because there are no composers yet for the dynamic light effect made possible by a wide variety of light instruments already available. So, it is an open field for experimentation and you will be challenged to be a composer and create a melodious harmony with light!!.

What knowledge or competences do you need? Presently, for Light Instruments this needs two different competences:

(1) creativity and artistic insight into visual pleasing light effects to invent new sequences.

(2) Simple programming skill (Arduino; basic C++) to realize the intended dynamic light effects

If you manage only one of these competences, do not worry!. We will make small teams ensuring that both capabilities are present in each team. Each team will have a Light Instrument at their disposal. At the end of this workshop every team will present its lighting composition and its source of inspiration.

Enthusiastic about the idea of playing with a Light Instrument and see what amazing, marvelous results are possible? Then you should definitively join this workshop.

It will be held at the TAC where at the same time an exhibition of various Light Instruments takes place from June 6th till June 9th.