Welcome to Printeractive

Dear Participants,

Welcome to Printeractive! The workshop aims to explore how Art and Design practices can be enhanced through interactive processes. We are hoping that this workshop will change the way in which you might engage with your audiences.

Our main objective is to showcase new technologies in a playful way and in a positive  and cordial environment.

We will start the session at 9:00 AM at the John Lennon Art and Design building. Click here to find more information how to get there.

Guest Speakers

We are happy to introduce two of our guest speakers.

Tracy Hill

Born in Birmingham Tracy Hill studied Fine Art at Bournville School of Art, Birmingham, Sheffield Hallam University and The University of Central Lancashire, Preston.

Currently a research associate and co-leader of Artlab Contemporary Print studios at The University of Central Lancashire, Hill’s practice investigates and reconsiders the relationship between our developing digital capabilities and the aesthetics of the traditional hand created mark.

Hill’s work creates a hybrid space allowing a cross over between technological control and the emotion of human experience, challenging and exploring print as a platform of multiple-dimensions.

Michael Shorter

Mike is a Senior Creative Technologist at Uniform. He has over 10 years experience as a Product Designer, University lecturer and researcher. He is at home playing with new digital technologies and has in-depth knowledge of design methods, idea generation, workshop facilitation, prototyping techniques, sensors, paper circuitry and internet connected objects. 

Mike has worked with partners such as NASA, Penguin Random House and Mozilla and co-founded the design publication Fieldguide in 2012. He regularly publishes journal articles, conference papers and book sections and presents his work worldwide: from London Design Festival to Unbox Festival in India. Mike graduated from the University of Dundee in 2007 with a first class degree in Product Design and has a PhD in prototyping for emergent technologies.

Timetable

9:00 AM – Meet at the John Lennon Art and Design Building reception

9:00 – 9:30 AM: Coffee and Orientation

10:00 AM: Introduction by Javier and Hannah

10:15 AM: Talk by Tracy Hill followed by Q&A

10:50 AM: Introduction to interactive devices

11:50 AM: Coffee break

12:00 PM: Interactive devices (continued)

12:30 PM: Image generation/production for screen print

1:00 PM: Lunch

1:45 PM: Talk by Michael Shorter, followed by Q&A

2:15 PM: Introduction to print and interaction principles (Hannah and Javier)

2:30 – 5:00 PM: Printmaking interactive interfaces (Print Studio)

5:20 PM: End of workshop and closure

5:30 PM: Meet at Pen Factory for drinks (optional)

Preparing for the workshop

Although we will be providing most of the material, it will be beneficial if you can bring your own laptop. You will need to download S4A, the Arduino IDE and it will be very helpful to have Fritzing. You do not necessarily need to bring your own computer since we will provide a few, but it might be beneficial to take the digital experiments with you.

Since we will be printing, we do have aprons but you may not want to wear your best outfit just in case you get ink on it. 

If you have any images or material that you would like to use for the workshop, please bring it with you (i.e. sketchbooks, images, etc). Although, not all images might be suitable fo the final outcome, part of this workshop is to think of the ways to adapt such images to the interactive process.