De-computation
My first term elective at the RCA. Each of our four briefs aimed to decode many of the core ideas we face as creatives working in the age of the computer.
‘We have developed something we call “de-computation”. [...] As the title suggests, de-computing means pushing back against technologies by turning our attention to real-world phenomena, processes, systems and materials.’
Walker, K. and Fass, J. (2015) De-Computation: Programming the world through design. NORDES, June 2015, Stockholm, SE.
The briefs for this term were: food & ritual; periodicity; proprioception & telepresence. There was an emphasis placed on going beyond representation and attempting to EMBODY these ideas into our pieces.
For food & ritual, I was interested in the moralising myths constructed around food and how quickly they can shift over time, especially those created by branding.
Proprioception, the perception of your body in space, was the second brief and we chose to explore the idea of both improving and hindering balance simultaneously with this weighted headpiece that functioned as a kind of spirit level for the body.
For our final brief, telepresence, we were keen to make something with applicable value. We created a therapeutic tool for anxiety by repurposing the expanding belt in a blood pressure monitor and transforming it into a band that would be wrapped around the upper chest. This would be worn by a therapist during sessions and would inflate in response to their client squeezing a stress ball that would function as the button.