Call for Participation
Matter Seminar: 4. June. 2018, Suomenlinna, Helsinki
Recent endeavours have brought researchers and thinkers into questioning the propagated human-centredness in design in order to articulate new perspectives, knowledges and questions.
Decentralizing the attention from the human actions, these approaches distribute the agency among other participating entities in order to better understand the field and its practices.
As Empirica Research Group from Department of Design in Aalto ARTS, we would like to invite researchers to the Matter Seminar to discuss the concepts of materiality and agency within arts, crafts and design research. The one-day long seminar will begin with open lectures and continue with a group discussion with selected participants. The seminar will offer a space to share and understand different approaches, methodologies and conceptualizations.
To participate in the discussion please send your one-paragraph that briefly summarizes your research approach to bilge.aktas@aalto.fi. Applicants will be selected based on the relevance of their research to the call and invited to the discussion. Participation is free of charge, but registration must be done via e-mail.
Preliminary programme:
9.30
Opening
9.45-10.30
Open Lecture: working with non-humans
Christena Nippert-Eng from Indiana University Bloomington,
Break
10.45-11.30
Open Lecture: working with non-humans in design
Nithikul Nimkulrat from Estonian Academy of Arts
11.30-12.30
Lunch break
12.30-13.30
Discussion participants introduce themselves – max 5 min for each participant
13.30-14.45
Discussion
Break
15.00-16.00
Discussion: drawing the landscape: approaches, methodologies, people
16.00-16.30
Closing remarks: What’s next? How to sustain the community? How to collaborate?
Location: HIAP Suomenlinna, B 28/2, 00190
Contact: bilge.aktas@aalto.fi
Key dates:
28.March – call for participation
30.April – deadline for submissions
15.May – announcement of the accepted participants
25.May – announcement of the programme
4.June – the seminar
Read more news
Researchers make micromanipulation more accessible
FilMBot aims to lower the barrier to high-precision work in education, research, and micro-assembly
Positive communication and improvisation help build students’ communication skills to meet employer needs
The School of Business redesigned its mandatory first-year communication course
Learning Environments Research Group — 2025 in Review
2025 recap: three doctoral theses on context-aware interaction design, AI as creative learning partner, and telerobotic puppetry for peacebuilding.