Workshop: I | Shih Wei Chieh, Manuel Jiménez García & Christina Dahdaleh: Encoding flexible data

How does one integrate one’s own very personal practice with someone else’s very personal practice? How do we leave space for the other, while still holding on to our own identity? In the struggle to find the balance between one’s own autonomy, and allowing others to influence and inspire, the relationship between all our different I’s remains a moveable, fluid space.

 Circus acrobatics, aside from its obvious building of strength, balance and flexibility, is also an important exercise in trust, of letting go, giving and taking of space, in order for both to perform their task optimally, and as a team.

A simple lunch, coffee and tea will be provided to all workshop participants.

This workshop will be taught in 2 parts, each introducing the particular techniques developed by architect Manuel Jimenez Garcia (Softmodeling) and artist Shih Wei Chieh (laser dye printing) and used in their work ‘Woven Memory’.

Softmodeling is an open source Java application by Manuel Jimenez Garcia which seamlessly integrates physical simulations and 3D modeling. This generative design tool enables the digital manipulation of flexible materials, while maintaining the playfulness and flexibility of polygonal modeling design software. During the workshop, participants will use this tool to explore computational design methods through the use of digital-analogue experimentation. They will explore the possibilities of flexible materials, generating a variety of structures with materials that bend, collapse, flip or fold. In addition to using advanced simulation techniques for the creation of complex flexible structures, they will conclude the workshop by working with physical materials to explore and understand how material constraints come to life. They will learn how digital tools can be used to fabricate 3D models and how material understanding could help in the creation of a software for the manipulation of flexible materials in complex design systems.

Shih Wei Chieh’s laser-dye technique is inspired by large area lithography and photography, but is instead applied on 3D surfaces. It uses software-controlled laser beams, driven by sound, to slowly expose UV-sensitive ink painted over fabric or objects. The 2D image is deconstructed into a moving light-path in 3D space – a sequence of points where the beam needs to fall to generate it. Wei Chieh’s method opens discussions about the temporality of the image, both in the slow and sequenced process that is needed to expose it, and in the way the ink continues responding to light until it is rinsed off. Participants will be given a short Max/MSP tutorial on designing patterns/images using audio signals, and will explore the timing relationship between sound and print. They will work hands-on with photo emulsion to create a small work together, using Wei-Chieh’s self-made lasers.

Workshop

Date
November 29

Time
10:30 – 12:00 – Circus acrobatics at Circaso
12:00 – 13:00 – Lunch and moving to Quartair
13:00 – 18:30 – Workshop: Encoding Flexible Data

Venues
Circaso
Quartair

Module
MBF x DEZACT
Workshop

Weblinks
Manuel Jiménez García
Shih Wei-Chieh
The Woven Memory @ MBF

BIOS

Manuel Jiménez García

Manuel Jiménez García (UK/ES) is currently Co-Director of MereoLab Research Lab at The Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL)(London). He is also Course Master of Research Cluster 4 at the MArch Graduate Architectural Design (GAD) and Unit Master of MArch Unit 19; in addition, Manuel is curator of the Bartlett Computational Plexus, Coordinator of the BPro Skills Elective Module and Programme Director at the Architectural Association’s Visiting School in Madrid (AAVSM). He has taught and run workshops at Architectural Association’s Design Research Laboratory (AADRL, London), Polytechnic University of Architecture (Madrid), European University Madrid, and L’École Spéciale d’Architecture (Paris). Manuel is the co-founder of Ctrl+M and madMdesign, an architecture practice based in London. He has also worked internationally as an architect for Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Minimaforms, Amid(cero9) and Naja & deOstos. His work has been featured widely in Acadia 2012 (San Francisco), Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (London), X Bienal Española de Arquitectura (Spain), and Rethinking the Human in Technology Driven Architecture 2011 (Greece).

shih-wei-chieh-profile-large

Shih Wei-Chieh (TW) is a media artist, e-textile prototype designer and material researcher. He graduated from Media Communication Design of Taipei Shih Chien University in 2010 and now works as an artist and e-textile consultant in Taipei. His work has been presented in many international platforms and festivals such as CTM Festival Berlin, SXSW Festival Texas, Adafruit NYU, Youfab Festival Tokyo. His material practice focuses on stretchable circuits for textiles, printed circuits, photoelectric chemicals and laser processing of materials. Following a funded 2-month long textile research residency in Mexico and 6-month long fair-trade collaboration with a local NGO (Bandui Lab) and Aztec groups 2013, he was inspired to work with traditional Taiwanese textile communities, and to explore the relation between traditional textile techniques, society, and new materials through technology.

Christina Dahdaleh

Christina Dahdaleh (UK/JO) is a passionate and enthusiastic designer. She graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL-London) with a Masters in Architecture, under Nannette Jackowski and Ricardo de Ostos, 2015. She holds first class honours for her Bachelor Degree in Architecture from the Kent School of Architecture, 2012. She currently teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture, is program coordinator at the AA Visiting School of Madrid, and teaches a masters workshop at UEM. Christina also coordinates the Bartlett Plexus lecture series, an initiative to bring together the creative talent of different disciplines related to computation. Aside from teaching, she is part of the research team at MadMDesign (UK), and has worked at RTKL (UK), Guy Holloway architects (UK), Faris and Faris Architects (Jordan) and Jaafar Toukan Architecture (Jordan).