In relation to the MeLa research programme, CIID will be hosting a one-day seminar in Copenhagen on May 31, 2012 (3-7pm).

Where:
Post and Tele Museum
Købmagergade 37
Copenhagen K

About MeLa
The main objective of the MeLa research programme is to define innovative museum practices that reflect the challenges of the contemporary processes of globalisation, mobility and migrations. As people, objects, knowledge and information move at increasingly high rates, a sharper awareness of an inclusive European identity is needed to facilitate mutual understanding and social cohesion. MeLa aims at empowering museums spaces, practices and policies with the task of building this identity.

Link to MeLa homepage: mela-project.eu/

MeLa OBJECTIVES

- Rethinking the role of museums in building a democratic inclusive European citizenship;
- Envisioning strategies and exhibition practices to support the new role of museums in an age of migrations;
- Improving knowledge on cultural heritage diversity and identity representation.

MeLa MAIN QUESTIONS
- How do museums face the challenge of representing multiple cultures in contemporary society?
- How do museums play the role of mediators in cultural exchanges?
- How can museums represent memory and identity with an intercultural approach?

MeLa EXPECTED RESULTS
MeLa aims to redefine the role, mission and net- work of museums, as well as their communication and exhibition strategies. The findings of the research will coalesce into scientific publications and policies for the use of the European Union and museum community.

HOW MeLa PROJECT OPERATES
MeLa involves nine European partners – universities, museums, research institutes and a company – who will lead six Research Fields (RF) with a collaborative approach. Public events will be organised to fuel and share the research, bringing together experts from different museums sectors, scholars and artists. Art exhibitions will provide further stimuli to the research, and in progress findings will be tested in pilot projects to exemplify new methodological solutions.

EUROPEAN ADDED VALUE
MeLa will help museums become agents of European citizenship-building, by drawing on common heritage as a cardinal bonding factor.

* ‘mela’ is the Sanskrit word for “gathering” or “meeting.” Today it is referred to intercultural encounters, intended as opportunities for community building.

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PROGRAMME:

15:00-15:30: Registration & Coffee
15:30-15:40: Welcome, by Jamie Allen, CIID
15:40-16:00: MeLa Project Presentation, by Luca Basso Peressut, POLIMI
16:00-16:30: Presentation: “My Country, Your Country” – An Integration Project, by Henrik Rasmussen, The Post and Tele Museum
16:30-17:15: keynote Speech, by Richard Benjamin, National Museums Liverpool
17:15-17:30: Coffee Break
17:30-19:00: Round Table and Discussion, facilitated by Luca Basso Peressut, POLIMI

ROUND TABLE:
Giovanni Pinna, Director of the Italian magazine “Nuova Museologia”.
Henrik Lübker, Curator at the Odense City Museums;
Jan-Erik Lundström, Director of the Sámi Artist Center;
Jette Sandhal, Director of the Museum of Copenhagen;
Joachim Baur – Museum consultant and independent curator at Die Exponauten;
Mette Houlberg Rung, Curator at the National Gallery of Denmark;
Peter Leese, Associate Professor of British History and Contemporary Britain, at the Copenhagen University.
Richard Benjamin, Head of the International Slavery Museum, Museum of Liverpool

19:00-19:15: Closing Remarks, by Jamie Allen

Space is limited so please RSVP via email to Kirsti Andersen (k.andersen@ciid.dk) with “MeLa Seminar” in the subject line.

* minor changes to the programme may occur

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PARTNERS

POLIMI
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Department of Architectural Project,
Department of Industrial Design, Arts, Communication and Fashion
Luca Basso Peressut, Gennaro Postiglione

CIID
Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Denmark
Jamie Allen

CNR
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy
Institute for Industrial Technologies and Automation
Marco Sacco

GU
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
History of Art, School of Culture and Creative Arts
Perla Innocenti

MACBA
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain
Mela Davila

MNHN
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, France
Department «Homme, Nature, Société»
Fabienne Galangau, Laurence Isnard

RCA
The Royal College of Art, United Kingdom
Department of Curating Contemporary Art
Mark Nash

UNEW
Newcastle University, United Kingdom
The International Centre of Cultural and Heritage Studies
Chris Whitehead, Rhiannon Mason

UNO
L’ “Orientale”, University of Naples, Italy
Department of Human and Social Sciences
Iain Chambers

Performative Design is a creative workshop focusing on developing body-centric devices. An intimate link between our physicality and the outside world, clothing can be seen as a deeply powerful and expressive interface. Exploring the wearable or body-centric interface, the workshop has focused on learning from the physical potential and expressive nature of the human body.

This exhibition will showcase a series of body-centric devices. These devices, through their shapes, materials, colours and aesthetics, aim at unveiling and embodying imagined narratives taking place in the city of Copenhagen. Each conforming to the human body, prompting curiosity, challenging everyday behaviours and unleashing secret stories between people, places and the city.

The projects were developed as part of a one-week workshop taught by Di Mainstone and David Gauthier.
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When:
5pm onwards – Tues 14th May, 2012

Where:
CIID
Toldbodgade 37b
1253, Copenhagen K
DENMARK

Map & Directions

With thanks to our Founding Partners: Novo Nordisk, Velux & Maersk who have made this exhibition possible.

Entrepreneur Søren Ejlersen and co-worker Jacob Dietz will give an open lecture on the creation of an organic box scheme delivery service. Aarstiderne is simple : Pack a wooden box brimming with the seasons freshest fruits and vegetables, supply a choice of good recipes and deliver the box right to the doorstep.

This talk will discuss the recreation of the close links between the work of the organic farmer and the work in all the kitchens – transforming the bounties of the land into feasts of honest , nutritious, seasonal and inspired food.

A lecture on food, design, Juicing!!! and when thinking inside the box IS a good thing!

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When:
5-6pm – Wednesday 15th August, 2012

Where:
CIID
Toldbodgade 37b
1253, Copenhagen K
DENMARK

Space is limited so please RSVP via email to: info@ciid.dk (with ‘Juice’ in the subject line)

Map & Directions

With thanks to our Founding Partners: Novo Nordisk, Velux & Maersk who have made this lecture series possible.

Clothed Digitally

Mary Huang designs interactions, fashion, and the future of stuff. Her work in fashion spans LED dresses, to user-generated couture and 3D-printing. Along with Jenna Fizel, she founded Continuum, an experimental label that pioneers high tech wearables through computation and digital fabrication. From 3D-printed textiles to reconfigurable shoes, how can digital change how fashion is made and experienced?

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When:
5-6pm – Monday 14th May, 2012

Where:
CIID
Toldbodgade 37b
1253, Copenhagen K
DENMARK

Space is limited so please RSVP via email to: info@ciid.dk (with ‘Mary’ in the subject line)

Map & Directions

With thanks to our Founding Partners: Novo Nordisk, Velux & Maersk who have made this lecture series possible.

Marco Triverio’s final project ‘Feel Me‘ has been causing quite a stir online.

Based on research findings for which communications with a special person are not about content going back and forth but rather about perceiving the presence of the other person on the other side, Feel Me opens a real-time interactive channel.

Read more on the links below:
http://news.cnet.com

www.creativeapplications.net

http://www.psfk.com

“Planning and Ageing: Think, Act and Share Age-friendly Cities”– is the topic of the next conference organised by CITTA – Research Centre for Territory, Transport and Environment, held at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Oporto on the 18th May, 2012.

More information on the conference here: http://citta-conference.fe.up.pt/

Laura Boffi from CIID Research will present the paper she wrote in collaboration with Jamie Allen and Kirsti Andersen: “Towards Practical and Meaningful Food-Related Support Systems for the Elderly: Initial Findings From the FOOD Project”:

The paper covers research and user-studies with the elderly and their experiences of food: the access, experience and meaningfulness of food in their lives. The FOOD project aims to develop new food related services and appliances that could support the elderly in keeping them self sufficient and independent in their home for a longer periods of time, later into life.

The goal is to forgo or delay more ‘radical’ and economically burdensome decisions needing to be made by families or institutions, such as moving the elderly to an old-age home, or health care institutions. Food and eating are, of course, a salient and fruitful application area for the detection and extension of personal limits and stresses to social networks and families.

This paper summarises the process and results of the first stages of the project, where field research with 15 respondents (elderly individuals and couples) was undertaken. It will serve to share our findings, the methods developed for the research, and a brief evaluation of these methods and their effectiveness. Further we argue for dialogue and cross-pollination between user-experience and Interaction Design research and researchers towards human-geographical urban design at the city-scale.

From the Harddisken website:

“The dream of a robot butler is almost as old as the idea of ​​the robots themselves. In this Harddisken podcast program we describe context-sensitive technology, mobile sensors, digital assistants and smartphones rolling when we meet among other people from Sense Observation Systems, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design and Better Place. In IT news, it’s among other things, Google’s wifi snifferi, organ donors on Facebook and digitization in public Denmark.”

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This podcast (in Danish only) includes an interview with Jay Melican of Intel Labs, and Marco Triverio and Chris Bierbower (two of CIID’s recent alumni). They talk about a two-week collaborative Industry Project which explored the possibilities of genuinely digital, mainstream consumer experiences with dynamic collections of information. Looking forward 10-15 years to imagine a space where technologies that are just emerging today are robust and readily available, students were asked to look at applications for technology, and models for businesses.

Listen to the podcast here: http://podcast.dr.dk

Find out more about the CIID/Intel Labs Industry Project here: http://ciid.dk/education/portfolio/idp11/courses/industry-project-intel/overview/

Body-Centric

Di Mainstone is an artist and inventor. She creates body-centric sculptures for experimental performance. Musical prosthetics, kinetic couture, wearable graffiti, body-architecture and sensory-skins are just some of the devices Mainstone has fashioned.

Operating like a miniature theatre company, her work has been seen at venues including The V&A, The National Portrait Gallery and The Barbican in London, The Swedish National Touring Theatre in Stockholm, Berkeley Art Museum in San Francisco, NIMK in Amsterdam, Eyebeam in New York. Beyond the stage, Di’s sculptural adornments are the stars of short films, which she writes and directs.

A choreography of fashion, technology and performance, her work is brought to life by the playful curiosity of the wearer. Originally trained in fashion at Central Saint Martins, Mainstone developed her research practice through residencies at institutions, such as Eyebeam Centre for Art and Technology NYC, V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media Rotterdam, XS Lab Montreal, Banff New Media Institute and The Centre for Digital Music.

A regular guest-lecturer, she presents at institutes like The Royal College of Art, Central Saint Martins, Smartlab, NYU, Parsons, MICA, Emily Carr, Concordia University, Willem de Kooning and UKD. Mainstone also teaches and develops workshops, most recently at London College of Fashion, Eyebeam, Kingston University, NYU, Pratt and Queen Mary University of London.

Currently artist in residence at Queen Mary University of London, Di is developing a collection of musical prosthetics in collaboration with the students on the Media Arts and Technology programme.

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When:
5-6pm – Tuesday 8th May, 2012

Where:
CIID
Toldbodgade 37b
1253, Copenhagen K
DENMARK

Space is limited so please RSVP via email to: info@ciid.dk (with ‘Di’ in the subject line)

Map & Directions

With thanks to our Founding Partners: Novo Nordisk, Velux & Maersk who have made this lecture series possible.

At CIID, the consulting team prides themselves on trying to live an active lifestyle outside of the studio. Everyone has a special fondness and enthusiasm when it comes to their personal sporting interests whether it be snowboarding, softball, running, swimming, basketball, frisbee or yoga.

Last week, three of the consulting girls decided to join forces for a small challenge. As the sun started to shine in Copenhagen, so did CIID’s running efforts when Helle Rohde, Elena Gianni and Eilidh Dickson participated in the ’5km MINI city lob’ organised by Sparta running club.

In true CIID style, everyone crossed the finish line with determination, team spirit and a smile on their face. CIID’s studio philosophy is based on team work, collaboration and a supportive environment, and last week’s run was definitely no exception to this!

Helle, the newbie on the running team says, “The last 500 meters were the best, when you can see the finish line and your friends cheering for you. I instantly started to speed up and couldn’t help but smile even though I was so exhausted. Afterwards, although you are tired, there is such euphoria from completing something together”.