In collaboration with the classical singer Kelsey Cotton and colleagues from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm we developed the Breathing Shell, a wearable for "voiceless singing": Through shape-change actuators embedded in the shell, the movements of muscles on the torso produced when one breathes (and/or sings) are mapped to sounds controlled and computed through MAX MSP software.
The Breathing Shell is the outcome of a one-year design research on exploring the process of defamiliarising one's breathing through soma design methods, aiming to design for the nuanced somatic experiences of breathing, which cannot always be mapped to a breathing rate that biosensors are most often designed to capture.
Through a process of engaging with sensing technologies for capturing biodata from breathing (wearable strain sensor, electromyography sensor- EMG, custom made shape-change pressure-actuator sensors), we designed the Breathing Shell for a) capturing the wearer's breathing through muscle contraction on the torso, and b) giving the sensation of "tangibility" of the act of breathing. This is experienced as shape-change actuation evoked through the custom made shape-change sensors on top of the muscles that contract and retract while breathing.
Publications:
Vasiliki Tsaknaki, Kelsey Cotton, Pavel Karpashevich, and Pedro Sanches. 2021. “Feeling the sensor feeling you”: A soma design exploration on sensing non-habitual breathing. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA.
Between August 2018- August 2020 I was working in the Soma Design research group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, led by Prof. Kristina Höök.
In collaboration with colleagues working in the same research group we developed several prototypes of interactive artefacts following a soma design research methodology, which foregrounds the whole body, i.e. the soma.
A soma design process is a holistic approach to aesthetics in design, building on ideas of somaesthetics, which is a way to examine and improve on all connections between sensation, feeling, emotion, and subjective understanding and values – in short: improving on our somas.
The materials being shaped in a soma design process are not only the digital and physical materials we use to build interactive artefacts with, but also our own (and ultimately) our prospective end-users’ somas, as their movements, experiences and sensual appreciations will be changed/extended/molded through their interactions with the system. A soma design process therefore thrives off the “aesthetic potential of the sociodigital materials and the creative process of shaping these into dynamic gestalts, orchestrated experiences” (Höök, Designing with the Body, 2018, p.127).
One example from the research conducted in the SOMA design research group has been the development of the Soma Bits. They are prototyping toolkit that facilitates Soma Design, by allowing designers to pair digital technologies, with their whole body and senses, as part of an iterative soma design process.
The Soma Bits have a form factor and materiality that allow actuators (heat, vibration, and shape- changing) to be placed on and around the body; they are easily configurable to enable quick and controllable creations of soma experiences which can be both part of a first-person approach as well as shared with others. They are a living, growing library of shapes and actuators.
Publications:
1. Höök, K., Eriksson, S., Juul Søndergaard, M.L., Ciolfi Felice, M., Campo Woytuk, N., Kilic Afsar, O., Tsaknaki, V., & Ståhl, A. (2019). Soma Design and Politics of the Body: Addressing Conceptual Dichotomies Through Somatic Engagement. In Proceedings of the Halfway to the Future Symposium 2019 (HTTF 2019), November 19–20, 2019, Nottingham, United Kingdom. ACM, New York, NY, USA. (paper)
2. Tsaknaki, V., Balaam, M., Ståhl, A., Sanches, P., Windlin, C., Karpashevich, P., & Höök., K. (2019). Teaching Soma Design. In Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '19). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1237-1249. *Nominated for Best Paper Award* (paper)
3. Windlin, C., Ståhl, A., Sanches, P., Tsaknaki, V., Karpashevich, P., Balaam, M., & Höök, K. (2019). Soma Bits: Mediating technology to orchestrate bodily experiences. In Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Research Through Design - RTD ’19. (paper)
Watch the video here.
This research project was initiated at the IxD lab, IT University of Copenhagen during autumn 2015, when I was a visiting Ph.D. Scholar there. Together with Anna Vallgårda, Laurens Boer, and Dag Svanaes.
We propose the notion of material programming as a future design practice for computational composites. Material programming would be a way for the interaction designer to better explore the dynamic potential of computational materials at hand and through that familiarity be able to compose more sophisticated and complex temporal forms in their designs.
We offer an analysis of qualities that we find a material programming practice would and should support: designs grounded in material properties and experiences, embodied programming practice, real-time on-site explorations, and finally a reasonable level of complexity in couplings between input and output. We propose material programming knowing that the technology and materials are not entirely ready to support this practice yet, however, we are certain they will be and that the interaction design community will need to find new ways of relating to such computational materials.
Publications:
1. Vallgårda, A., Boer, L., Tsaknaki, V., & Svanæs, D. (2017). Material programming. ACM Interactions 24, 3 (April 2017), 36-41. (Link to paper)
2. Vallgårda, A., Boer, L., Tsaknaki, V., & Svanaes, D. (2016). Material Programming: a Design Practice for Computational Composites. In Proceedings of Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Göteborg, Sweden. NordiCHI’16. ACM Press. (Link to paper)
3. Vallgårda, A., Boer, L., Tsaknaki, V., & Svanaes, D. (2016). Material Programming: A New Interaction Design Practice. In DIS’16 Companion of Designing Interactive Systems. Vancouver, Canada. ACM Press, 149-152. (Link to paper)
Project duration: 2014 - 2017
Nebula is an interactive prototype used to examine the properties of textiles, fashion accessories, and digital technologies to arrive at a garment design that brings these elements together in a cohesive manner. Bridging the gap between everyday performativity and enactment, Nebula is part of a longer project addressing aspects of the making process, interaction, and functional aesthetics. The studs seen on the garment are the endpoints of a live electronic circuit. When the garment moves, the studs touch and create connections that are used to envelope the wearer in an electronic soundscape.
The design of the garment evokes images of star fields and nebulas.
Implemented as part of the SoundClothes project, with a grant for 'Small Visionary Projects' at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Ludvig Elblaus, Vasiliki Tsaknaki, Vincent Lewandowski and Roberto Bresin.
Featured at the ACM Interactions Magazine, in the Demo Hour section, Volume 22 Issue 5, September-October 2015
And presented at the Interactivity session during CHI'15 conference in Seoul, Korea.
Publications:
1. Tsaknaki, V., & Elblaus, L. (2019). A Wearable Nebula Material Investigations of Implicit Interaction. In Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI '19). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 625-633. (Link to paper)
2. Elblaus, L., Tsaknaki, V., Lewandowski, V., & Bresin, R. (2015). Nebula: An Interactive Garment Designed for Functional Aesthetics. In In CHI ’15 Extended Abstracts of Human Factors in Computing Systems. Seoul, Korea. ACM Press, 275-278. (Link to paper)
A practical challenge for designers as well as users of interactive products today lies in how the engineering discourse of technology tends to promote values of designs to be finished, lasting, and perfect, while at the same time contradicting the same notions by technology that easily breaks or quickly becomes out of fashion.
An important aspect of this discussion concerns how the design of interactive systems is physically tied to the material foundations that define possible interactions, computations and media expressions. Developments in hardware for representing, storing and displaying electronic media have fundamentally affected not only the types of software that can be produced, but also how that software may be practically used and interacted with. Software and hardware is thereby “intimately connected to a cycle of mutual obsolescence”, as phrased by Blevis (2007). In this context it is increasingly relevant to reflect on how we, as an interaction design community concerned with design and user experiences, may provide advice and guidelines for new solutions to be not just attractive and easy to use, but also of relevance over time.
In this work we use the japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi that embraces three basic realities of the material world: 'nothing lasts', 'nothing is finished', and 'nothing is perfect'. We use these three realities to ground a discussion around how the above situation could be embraced in the design of interactive technology. Wabi- Sabi is a traditional Japanese philosophy that “nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.” (Powel, 2004). We explore the realities of Wabi-Sabi in interactive artefacts by first providing an extended overview of how its three themes have previously been addressed in Human-Computer Interaction, followed by an articulation of our own understanding of the concept through analysing four distinct design cases.
Our analysis result in the formulation of three principles, which we suggest might help guiding designers who aim to approach Wabi-Sabi more concretely in their design work. The three principles each involves an element of contradiction, and are framed as:
1) Design for long-term interaction through conscious use of impermanent materials and media,
2) Approach perfection through explicitly unfinished designs, and
3) Engage with the richness of interactive expressions by embracing limitations in current technology.
Thus, we contribute by elaborating on Wabi-Sabi as a conceptual framework to reflect on crucial aspects that seem predominant in contemporary computing, but also as a practical resource to guide the design of new interactive solutions.
Publication:
Tsaknaki, V. & Fernaeus, Y. (2016). Expanding on Wabi-Sabi as a Design Resource in HCI. In the Proceedings of CHI' 16, San Jose, CA, USA. (download paper)
Project duration: 2014 - 2018
This project was a collaboration with the Stockholm-based silversmith artist Emma Rapp and was funded by Innovativ Kultur and Stockholm Stad.
Our aim during this research project was to study a fundamentally different approach to the design of wearable and mobile interactive and electronic products, based on contemporary artistic practices in metal and jewellery design. By combining conductive and non-conductive materials, such as silver, copper, wood, leather and electronic components, we explored new ways of understanding and relating to concepts such as longevity, obsolescence, preciousness and sustainability, within the domain of wearable electronic products. Additionally, it was an exloratory process on how the distinct practices of exploratory interaction design research and silversmith crafting can be combined, in terms of materials, tools and crafting techniques.
Throughout the project we organized a series of workshops and exhibitions with invited (interaction) designers, researchers, jewellery artists and master students in Media Technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Additionally we presented a peer-reviewed full paper at Nordes'15 Conference 'Design Ecologies', which took place in Stockholm, Sweden in June 2015 at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design.
We also exhibited a series of handcrafted cases for electronic components, a series of copper and silver buttons, and a concept design for an Mp3 player made of silver and wood at the Nordes'15 Conference 'Design Ecologies' parallel exhibition. In December 2014 we organized an exhibition at Emma Rapp's silversmith studio in Södermalm in Stockholm, where we showed the process of our design work.
Publications:
1. Tsaknaki, V., Fernaeus, Y., Rapp, E., & Solsona, J. (2017). Articulating Challenges of Hybrid Crafting for the Case of Interactive Silversmith Practice. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems, DIS'17. Edinburgh, United Kingdom. ACM Press. (Link to paper)
2. Tsaknaki, V., Fernaeus, Y & Jonsson, M. (2015). Precious Materials of Interaction- Exploring Interactive Accessories as Jewellery Items. In Proceedings of Nordes' 15: Design Ecologies, Stockholm, Sweden. (Link to paper)
3. Fernaeus, Y., Murer, M., Tsaknaki, V., & Belenguer, J.S. (2014). Handcrafting Electronic Accessories Using ‘Raw’ Materials. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction. Munich, Germany. TEI’14. ACM Press, 369-372. (Link to paper)
Hardware decays, software obsolesces, infrastructures sediment, devices patinate. While recent scholarship has examined longevity and sustainability, we have little empirical understanding of how things age, decay, and obsolesce and how we might approach impermanence as a resource for practice and reflection. What are the material and temporal qualities of aging, decay, degradation, and obsolescence? And how can we use impermanence as a resource for design, use, and maintenance of long-lived technological artefacts?
This is an ongoing research topic that is related to my previous research on Wabi-Sabi as a concept to discuss impermanence, incompleteness and imperfection in Human-Computer Interaction.
In October 2016 I organized a workshop together with Marisa Cohn and Laurens Boer at the NordiCHI'16 conference exploring some directions of this topic. You can find more information regarding the workshop here: Things Fall Apart: Unpacking the Temporalities of Impermanence for HCI.
Workshop paper:
Tsaknaki, V., Cohn, M., Boer, L., Fernaeus, Y., & Vallgårda, A. (2016). Things Fall Apart: Unpacking the Temporalities of Impermanence for HCI. Workshop paper In Proceedings of Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Göteborg, Sweden. NordiCHI’16. ACM Press. (Link to the paper)
This is ongoing practice-based research and design work, which is the main theme I am exploring during my Ph.D. studies. I am studying various ways of combining traditional crafts and new interactive technology, in the form of electronic components or crafting with personal fabrication machines, such as a laser cutter.
Examples include materials such as leather, silver, copper, wood, textiles or bamboo. During the past four years I have collaborated with experienced crafters in the domains of leather crafting, silversmith crafting and textile crafting. During such collaborations I engaged with such crafters in practice-based explorations, bringing together the distinct worlds of practice-based and exploratory interaction design research on the one hand, and their expertise with physical materials and crafting techniques and particular tools, on the other. Our aim has been to explore future potential interactions and design challenges. Within this broad theme there are several ongoing explorations and smaller research projects, such as the 'Precious Materials of Interaction' or the leather-crafting project.
Some examples of designed artefacts are depicted on the left: In Figures 1, 2 is the interactive leather surface on top of the sound box, designed during a workshop in Istanbul, with students from Yildiz Technical University, as part of the motoco project initiated at HyperWerk Institute for Postindutrial Design in Basel, Switzerland. The sound box is one example of long-term explorations with leather as a material for crafting interactive and physical artifacts.
In Figures 3, 4 there are explorations on crafting simple input senosrs, such as buttons, switches or potentiometers from fragile and organic materials picked direcly from nature (e.g. seashells, nuts, dried leaves). This was party explored during the workshop I co-organized at TEI'14 conference in Munich at 2014, with the title 'Handcrafting Electronic Accessories Using 'Raw' Materials' and partly during the 'Precious Materials of Interaction' project, together with the silversmith Stockholm-based artist Emma Rapp and my supervisor Ylva Fernaeus. In Figure 5 there are conductive threads of various kind, shielded off with glass beads.
In Figure 6 is a collection of hybrid crafting with leather, copper/silver, textiles and bamboo (physical not hybrid).
In Figure 7 is the speaker scarf with an embedded textile speaker, crafted during the 'Soft and Tiny Arduino' workshop in Oslo, organized by Hannah Perner-Wilson in Nov. 2012.