Unravel the Code VI - The Face Of Things

The face is a valuable feature—in corporeal terms, but also as extracted data. In an age where facial recognition and machine learning are being designed into everyday objects, new forms of interactions are being written over our face. What will it mean when our ‘things’ begin to identify who we are, speculate on how we are feeling, what we desire, and grant or deny access based on what face that we present? Could these developments lead to a more compelling way to craft materials, objects, or environments with empathy? Or will we face a discord when our hybrid things only magnify existing patterns of bias?

On the Face of Things is the 6th Unravel the Code International Workshop where Unravel the Code students of the Maryland Institute College of Art meet face to face with Digital Craft students of the Willem De Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Through a three day exchange and 12 hour prototyping marathon, the students craft ideas and make materials that interface with the face.

About the Collaborating Progams

MICA http://unrvl.net

WDKA Digital Craft

Schedule

Awkward FaceTime

5/10 - 11/10	Bits of Rotterdam - bits of Baltimore - through the magic of the internet
time and date student arranged	MICA and WDKA Digital Craft students try to sustain a 5 min awkward conversation, knowing that it will make the week much smoother knowing at least one partner student on a face to face basis. There is a strict format for this talk, which can be found below.

FaceTime Format

To identify your FaceTime partner, please sign up for one of the four projects (as participant 1-6) and contact the corresponding student (i.e if your #1 in Its Complicated on the MICA list, find out who is #1 on the Its Complicated WDKA list…..its a bit complicated, i know).

Please prepare the following to discuss:

share a love/hate about your current program (of course no bad talking about UTC ;)
share a memorable photograph where the look on your face fits under the title “ the moment I knew what I wanted to do”.
show via the webcam a distinguishing facial feature
take a screenshot of each others faces and upload it to project participant lists on the wiki

The purpose of this pre-meeting is to have the first exchange to be on a peer to peer basis and break the ice before the marathon begins.

Monday 23 October - Meet, Greet, Eat, Show, Tell

Time / Place	Activity
~17:00 (exact TBC) / Blaak Station / Markthall Entrance	Show your face WdKA Students meet MICA
17:00 – 17:30 / de Appie	BYOB WdKA students have brought the food. MICA brings the drinks? For those of you who want check if non-imported Heineken still tastes horrible, its advised to conceal your bottles “American Style” upon entry to the school (ask WdKA students for advice).
17:30 – 18:00 / 3e Inberieding	Word of Welcome / A Few Works Jeroen (our super chatty / semi-professinal tap dancing / Digital Craft student) says a few words of welcome, talks briefly about the the Digital Crafters have been doing and show a few mini-projects from this semester.
18:00 – 19:00 / 4e Inberieding (or in case of a warm sunny miracle — the roof top terrace)	Zes uur! Etenstijd! Vera’s in the kitchen and better not be late
19:00 – 19:30	WdKA tour within your workshop groups, explore the school's stations
after hours	Bitterball’n? Tap-dancing Jeroen also happens to be registered party planner (many talents). He’d be happy to suggest any nighttime activities whatever your scene may be.

Tuesday 24 October - Strictly Business

Time / Place	Activity
9:30 – 9:45 / De Willem	COFFEEEEEEEEE
10:00 – 10:30 / Interaction Station	The Briefing Jon what we are doing and why he’s so happy about it.
10:30 – 11:15 / Interaction Station	Brainstorm Round 1
11:15 – 12:00 / Interaction Station	Brainstorm Round 2
12:00 – 14:00 / ????	Mini-Excursion WDKA & MICA students break into groups, lunch somewhere in Rotterdam, and visit a ‘selfie’ worth place. #facesofrotterdam
14:00 – 14:30 Interaction Station	20 min foreshadowing w/ Javi - explaining the ins and outs of what comes next
14:30 – 15:30 / Interaction Station	20min Foreplay - round-robin practical/unpractical instruction Sensitivity Training w/Mike or Ryan Face-Inter-Facing w/Javi Micro-controling w/Ryan or Yoana Photo-Boothing w/Tim
15:30 – 18:00 / Interaction Station	Confidence Building - production of a pre-marathon proof of concpet
18:00 – 19:00 - De Willem / School Cantine	Lekker Borrelen

Wednesday 25 October - The Face of Things Marathon

Time / Place	Activity
9:30 – 10:30 / De Willem	Upping the Anti students evaluate their concept prototype sketch out a plan of action
10:00 – 11:00 / Interaction Station	Face your Mentor Students discussing concept, feasibly, required tech/materials with workshop mentors.
11:00 – 12:00 / Interaction Station	Facing the Facts Is the idea ideal? Are all parts of your plan ready for production? 1 hour or fact checking, script writing, or resource finding before lunch.
11:00 – 12:00 / Interaction Station	About Face? A working lunch dedicated to the second thoughts and the doubting thomases.
13:00 – 16:30 / Interaction Station	FACE OFF MAKE MAKE MAKE MAKE MAKE MAKE MAKE
16:30 – 17:30 / Blaak Foyer	Drawn out Critique draw out your process, critique your current outcomes, plan for the last push
17:30 – 20:30 / Interactionstation	Laatste Loodjes
20:30 – 20:45 / Blaak Foyer & Basement Exhibition Space	Project Delivery bring your project to the exhibition space

Thursday 26 October - Document

Thursday 26/10	Blaak Foyer & Basement Exhibition Space
9:00 – 11:00	Photo/video documentation of results
11:00 – 12:00	Walk through of results to WDKA managers/coodinators

Participating Students

MICA Students

Chase - cbody@mica.edu 314507@edu.nl - qfodk
Claire - ccho02@mica.edu - 314506@edu.nl - eafdt
Jihae - jchoe@mica.edu - 314505@edu.nl - ktflh
Wan-Ting - wkao@mica.edu - 314504@edu.nl - njgad
Stefon - skelly05@mica.edu - 314503@edu.nl - umwne
Catherine - ckhamnouane@mica.edu - 314502@edu.nl - mabwp
So-Hee - skim17@mica.edu - 314501@edu.nl - yefll
Jenna Lane - jklein01@mica.edu - 314500@edu.nl - dtqdd
Dione - dlee04@mica.edu - 314499@edu.nl - hkitq
Yunzi - yliu03@mica.edu - 314498@edu.nl - jhmwg
Emary - eparisi@mica.edu - 314497@edu.nl - ccwle
Rachel - rrusk@mica.edu - 314496@edu.nl - wixsb
Durba - dsamanta@mica.edu - 314495@edu.nl - jckwk
Nilam - nsari@mica.edu - 314493@edu.nl - ujgtm
Sydney - ssiehtakata@mica.edu - 314494@edu.nl - rejir
Daniel - dspurgin@mica.edu - 314492@edu.nl - mjkdm
Sallie - lxu01@mica.edu - 314491@edu.nl - jdylh
Huijun - hzhu02@mica.edu - 314490@edu.nl - lxchl
Miles - mbarnett01@mica.edu - 314489@edu.nl - utfwy
Taylor - tpestorius@mica.edu - 314488@edu.nl - wvbvg
Margeaux - mabeyta@mica.edu - 314487@edu.nl - chtlb

WDKA Minor Digital Craft

Kenah - 0851671@hr.nl
Jeroen - 0873511@hr.nl
Jeanine - 0889920@hr.nl
Jochem - 0891362@hr.nl
Suzanne - 0891866@hr.nl
Tim - 0891980@hr.nl
Sanne - 0894723@hr.nl
Timoteo - timoteocarbone@gmail.com
Vera - 0901062@hr.nl
Alexander - 0901319@hr.nl
Tharim - 0901344@hr.nl

WDKA 3rd Year Digital Craft

Chiara - 0883941@hr.nl
Laura - 0889852@hr.nl
Pepijn - 0894710@hr.nl
Stephanie - 0900998@hr.nl
Mans - 0901281@hr.nl
Sjoerd - 0902887@hr.nl
Koen - 0910747@hr.nl
Tom - 0912919@hr.nl
Thijs - 0917912@hr.nl
Nomi - 0919394@hr.nl
Dieke - 0919883@hr.nl
Marielle - 0919897@hr.nl
Tutu - 0921248@hr.nl
Daniela -0925857@hr.nl
Emanuela - 0956193@hr.nl

Participating Faculty

MICA

Alan Grover, awgrover@gmail.com, technical assistant volunteer - 314508@edu.nl - rmzja
Ryan Hoover, rhoover@mica.edu, instructor - 314509@edu.nl - bhiqj
Annet Couwenberg, acouwenb@mica.edu, instructor - 314510@edu.nl - zisxw

WDKA

Tim Knapen, tim@indianen.be, digital craft practice mentor
Jon Stam, jon@commonplace.nl, digital craft research mentor
Javi Lloret Pardo, j.a.lloret.pardo@hr.nl, interaction station
Mike 'MJ' Pelletier, m.j.pelletier@hr.nl, canuk
Yoana Buzova, yoanabuzova@gmail.com, interaction station
Brigit Lichtenegger, b.lichtenegger@hr.nl, station chief

Workshop Projects

Group 1 - Anthropomaterials

What if a crafted material could show its true face and react in reciprocity to yours? This group of students explore how to animate the inanimate and how materials might move to human emotions.

Participants

MICA Students (sign up below)

1. Claire Cho

2. Nilam Sari

3. Durba Samanta

4. Rachel Rusk

5. Stefon Kelly

6. Miles Barnett

WDKA Students (sign up below)

1. Tim Reuser

2. Koen Dekker

3. Jochem Walboomers

4. Vera Castelijns

5. Jeroen Rijnart

6. Sanne Schilder

Results

Group 2 - Keeping Up Appearances

What if materials and objects impose social standards from their users? This set of students explore the issues of presentation culture in a world of pre-programmed interactions.

Participants

MICA Students (sign up below)

1. Jenna Klein

2. Dione Lee

3. Daniel Spurgin

4. Sydney Sieh-Takata

5. So Hee Kim

6. Catherine Khamnouane

WDKA Students (sign up below)

1. Suzanne Guitjens

2. Jeanine Verloop

3. Timoteo Carbone

4. Chiara Ermers

5.

6.

Results

Group 3 - Discriminant by Nature

What would it mean if more things could accept or reject you based on the image it sees. This group of students explore recognition from the object’s point of view.

Participants

MICA Students (sign up below)

1. Wan Ting Kao

2. Huijun Cynthia Zhu

3. Jihae Choe

4. Yunzi Liu

5. Luying (Sallie) Xu

WDKA Students (sign up below)

1.Tutu

2.hizkia pepijn

3.

4.

5.

Results

Group 4 - It’s Complicated

What if you and your objects formed deeper relationships by learning how to deal with each other? This group of students explore the concept of user unfriendly human computer interaction.

MICA Students (sign up below)

1. Chase Body

2. Margeaux Abeyta

3. Taylor Pestorius

4.Emary Parisi

WDKA Students (sign up below)

1. Dieke Berkhuizen

2. Alkenah Wansing

3. Tharim Cornelisse

4. AlexLaman