2023
From Slow to Cruel Technolgy
A theoretical dissertation which explored metaphoric ways to understand Critical Design through Theatre.
My master’s thesis. Academic stuff; black text on white paper .
In reality this ‘project’ is no single project, but several separate projects which naturally grew from one another.
-
Seed
Neon Dream
2018I investigated my own relationship with digital media through autographic and artistic methods.
An artistic project. Very personal.
-
Soil
Uncanny Interface
2018I explored the use of the uncanny and strange as means to better perceive virtual artifacts.
Partly a follow up to Neon Dream, partly in defiance of usability.
-
Rain
Devising Bestranged Interfaces as Strategy
2019I investigated the possibilities of using theatre methods for designing virtual artifacts.
I argued for the strategic value of a transmedia approach
-
Blossom
From Slow to Cruel Technology
2020-2023Through combined effort, the previous three projects lead me to Critical Design & Laurel's dramatic metaphor.
A theoretical dissertation emerged.
Brenda Laurel’s dramatic metaphor for virtual interfaces formed the basis of my own metaphorical exploration.
However her theory submits to the rules and ideals of usability, same as so many other digital design approaches. To repel this banality, I kept her metaphorical infrastructure, but replaced the dramatic proscenium stage with Antonin Artaud’s strange and uncanny Theatre of Cruelty.
A fusion of Laurel’s metaphor, with Artaud’s vision for a new theatre, was my goal.
⇋
Laurel, B. (1993). Computers as theatre
Artaud, A. (1938). The Theater and Its Double
I hoped to contribute to Critical Design and New Media Methods with a metaphorical (and useful) way of understanding virtual artifacts, which did not submit to the tyranny of usability.
Conceptual Frameworking
I maintained several conceptual maps throughout the projects.
The maps sometimes look very complex, but the process is relatively simple and intuitive. And the process of mapping - the intellectual activity - is insightful more so than the maps themselves.
Below are a few of the milestone maps of different style and layout. In chronological order starting in early ´18, and ending in fall of ´23.
