Projektmodul / Project Module
Talk to me – Connected Things and Objects
Instructor: Prof. Martin Hesselmeier
Credits: 18 ECTS, 16 SWS
Capacity: max. 14 students
Language: english, deutsch
Date: Plenum: Tuesdays, 09:30-12:45; Consultations by appointment
Location: Online/Marienstraße 7b,104
First Meeting: 15.04.2025, 09:15
(More information regarding the first meeting will be sent to accepted participants by email.)
BISON Course
Talk to me - Connected Things and Objects
Talk to me is the title of an exhibition that was shown 14 years ago at the Museum of Modern Art. Here is a short extract:
Talk to Me focuses on objects that involve direct interaction, such as interfaces, information systems, communication devices, and projects that establish a practical, emotional or even sensual connection between their users and entities such as cities, companies, governmental institutions, as well as other people.
Some time has now passed and we will probably soon reach the figure of 50 billion when we look at the things and objects that are connected to the Internet. An unimaginable number and we ask ourselves who is actually communicating with whom in an ever-evolving world of networked objects and systems. In the project module - Talk to me - Connected Things and Objects, we would like to search for mysterious, playful, imaginative and ecological ways of dealing with things and objects that can create and translate possible tensions, expectations and disappointments on different levels. The focus is on discourse, questioning and discovering different forms of communication from a creative and artistic perspective. In the course of the project module, we will research, design and develop objects and things that communicate and exchange information in any form and relate to each other. Their autonomy and self-sufficiency are at the centre of their presence. Everything is possible, from nervous systems to fragile infrastructures and humorous individual characters. The project module is supported by practical insights into various production and manufacturing possibilities such as 3D printing, CNC and laser cutting from the BFFL, Bauhaus Form and Function Lab. A joint exhibition of the projects/objects/things is planned for Summaery 2025 and will be developed in the project module. The project module offers self-motivated and self-organised projects a place for discussion, production and debate. The Fachmodul by Brian Larson Clark – Physical Computing: The Secret Lives of Networked Objects – as well as the Fachmodul by Jesus Velazquez Rodriguez – Tools, materials and approaches for FDM Rapid Prototyping - offers itself as a supplement to the project module.
Keywords: interactive art, autonomy, self-life, unexpected events, sustainability, low power, LoRa, ultra-wideband technology, networks, objects
The following teaching formats are offered:
Lecture:
The lecture series deals with various creative and artistic positions and provides an insight into tools and methods for the conception and design of interactive and reactive objects, artefacts and their interfaces. In addition, we will receive visits from interesting designers and artists who will give an insight into their work and working processes. The language of instruction will be English.
Workshop:
There will be a two-day workshop accompanying the project module by Christoph Noe https://on-guitars.com/ focussing on CNC / Shaper Origin. Participation is compulsory.
Consultations:
Individual projects and personal professional development can be discussed by appointment.
Excursion:
In order to explore the creative and artistic approaches under real conditions and to gain further impulses for the development of the project, we will go on an excursion from 11-13 June 2025. All students from the project module are invited to take part.
Registration:
Registration via the BISON portal
Please send a short letter of motivation explaining your interest in the course, your choice of accompanying specialised modules, as well as your level of knowledge and background to: martin.hesselmeier@uni-weimar.de
Certificate of achievement:
- Regular attendance and participation
- Participation in excursions, interim and final presentations
- Participation in the jointly organised exhibition at the end of the semester
- The work/project must be presented in the joint final presentation of the Interface Design professorship at the end of the lecture period
The documentation of the projects/works takes place during the lecture-free period until the end of the semester and is expected as a work file and as a film in MP4 format.
Admission requirements
Prerequisite for participation in the project module is the completion of the accompanying subject module:
• Physical Computing: The Secret Lives of Networked Objects by Brian Larson Clark
Application and registration procedure
- Registration via the BISON portal
- Please send a short letter of motivation explaining your interest in the course, your choice of accompanying specialized modules, as well as your level of knowledge and background to: martin.hesselmeier@uni-weimar.de
Eligible participants
BFA MFA Medienkunst/-gestaltung, MFA Media Art and Design, MSc MediaArchitecture, BFA MFA Produkt-Design candidates
Syllabus (subject to change)
09:30-12:45h, Marienstraße 7 B - Seminarroom 104
15.04.2025 Welcome, Introduction, Course Organization
22.04.2025 Talk to me I - History
29.04.2025 Talk to me II - Now
06.05.2025 free work (no official class)
13.05.2025 Plenum 1, 17.00 - 18.00 Artist Talk: Lyoudmila Milanova
20.05.2025 Projectwork
21.-22.05.2025 Workshop: Shaper Origin by Christoph Noe
03.12.2024 free work (no official class)
27.05.2025 Projectwork
03.06.2025 Plenum 2, Midterm Presentations, Guest critic by Prof. Andreas Muxel
11.-13.06.2025 Excursion Haus Rosenbaum
17.06.2025 individual consultations, Projectwork
24.06.2025 individual consultations, Projectwork
01.07.2025 Final Presentation
08.07.2025 preparation summaery 2025
10.07.-13.07.2025 Summaery 2025
Platforms and Tools
This Wiki
BigBlueButton
Mattermost Please CLICK HERE to get an introduction to mattermost
Figma
Literature
- Design noir : the secret life of electronic objects / Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby 2001, ISBN 3764365668
- Designing Objects in Motion / Kensho Miyoshi ISBN 303561931X
- Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology ISBN 0262521121
- Dinge und Undinge: Phänomenologische Skizzen, Vilém Flusser ISBN 3446239405
- Designing interactions / Bill Moggridge 2007, ISBN 9780262134743
- Waves - the Art of the Electromagnetic Society / Hartware MedienKunstVerein 2008 ISBN 9780387764641
- Vom Experiment zur Idee : die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts im Zeichen von Wissenschaft und Technologie ; Analysen, Dokumente, Zukunftsperspektiven / Davis, Douglas 1975 ISBN 3770108116
- The design of everyday things / Norman, Donald A. 1990 ISBN 0385267746
- Uncanny Interfaces / Hg. Konstantin Daniel Haensch, Lara Nelke, Matthias Planitzer, 2019 ISBN 9783864852176
- Jeff Johnson: Designing with the Mind in Mind / 2014 Link