Free workshops with MFA faculty: 2013 & 2014
The MFA department at VCUQatar presents a series of workshops with distinguished MFA faculty for senior students and alumni from all Education City branch universities.
All workshops will be run on both Saturday 23 November 2013, and 18 January 2014 from 9am to 4pm.
The deadline for applying for these workshops has passed, however additional spaces may become available in January 2014.
Workshop #1:
Using Digital Fabrication Technologies in Design
By Dr. Thomas Modeen
The workshop would introduce its participants to the wondrous World of Digital Fabrication - including laser-cutting and 3D Printing, here considered in the context of how it can play a role in developing a design.
The workshop will include a brief introduction to CAD-CAM (Computer Aided Design - Computer Aided Manufacturing), its different branches and abilities, as well as provide an opportunity to see the machines in action. Time permitting, the participants will also have a chance to produce a small bespoke laser-cut artifact as a memento of the event.
Workshop #2:
You Play, Me Play, We Play
By Peter Martin
A workshop in design thinking as applied to exploring the potentials around creating concepts, environments, or experiences of play. A brief overview of the elements and values of play will provide a point of departure for a generative process of design thinking methods. The workshop will conclude with a brief review of the process outcomes and a summary of the scope and nature of design thinking.
Workshop #3:
Using Physical Computing to Augment Experience
By Diane Derr + Ryan Browning
The workshop will introduce participants to open-source hardware and software - including digital/analog sensors and micrcontrollers, in the augmentation and mediation of the physical, tangible environment. The workshop will include a brief introduction to the Arduino Development Environment, its capabilities and limitations, as well as provide an opportunity experience the process hands-on. Participants will produce a small interactive device, if time allows.
Workshop #4:
Sci-Fi Prototyping - Building the future to understand the present
By Paolo Cardini + Jesse Ulmer
Science Fiction Prototyping is the title of the book written by Brian David Johnson, futurist at Intel Corp. “What if we could use science fiction based on science fact to not only imagine our future but develop new technologies and products? What if we could use stories, movies and comics as a kind of tool to explore the real world implications and uses of future technologies today?” All this questions together with a speculative and critical design approach will define the use of designed objects to provoke questions and stimulate discussion in academic and research settings.
Starting from a technological discovery or a scientific fact, the participants will be stimulated to envision its future consequences. They will be taught how to build future scenarios and how to create speculative objects as projection of the present and as critique to ethical and social topics.