Vygandas Šimbelis | KTH Royal Institute of Technology (original) (raw)

Papers by Vygandas Šimbelis

The work draws on repurposing practices to inform design for deletion and handling of digital was... more The work draws on repurposing practices to inform design for deletion and handling of digital waste -- a way of letting go -- in graceful and aesthetically appealing ways. Delete by Haiku is a mobile phone application that explores how deleting old text messages can become an enjoyable and creative practice by turning messages into haiku poetry. Through the application users interactively repurpose selected old text messages on their mobile phone into a haiku poem aided by a haiku-generating algorithm. By repeatedly pinching the selected messages they break apart into words that tumble down in a Tetris like manner. Gradually words are deleted until the remaining words find their position and form a haiku. The video presents a walkthrough of how to interact with the application to select messages in various ways, how to apply "themes" to gain some control over the generation process, and eventually share created poems with others through social media.

The aim of this workshop is to unpack different ways of thinking about time, drawing a distinctio... more The aim of this workshop is to unpack different ways of thinking about time, drawing a distinction between time as experienced, and time as counted by a ticking clock or measured by a computer algorithm. The concept of time is often taken for granted within HCI, yet highlighting the assumptions that underpin it could provide a resource for research and innovation. In this extended abstract, we illustrate how this is so.

Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2016

Through various forms of interaction, the Metaphone 1 project asks important questions about rela... more Through various forms of interaction, the Metaphone 1 project asks important questions about relationship between human and machine (in the fields of interactive arts and Human-Computer Interaction) and how those two may interact creating artistic knowledge. Control issue is raising questions on combinations of chaos and systematic control, while one version of the art installation provides means for creating artworks through participants' emotions and feelings (GSR and HR sensors). However, exploring ways of expression, the notion of authorship (from artistic perspective) is still in question: debating who owns the final artwork, if the machine could own the work and create artistically, is the participant still politically in charge, while finally, live creative process is always left free and open.

This article intends to show a usage-hacking case of everyday technology for creating visual narr... more This article intends to show a usage-hacking case of everyday technology for creating visual narratives. The photographic art project “Panorama Time” is discussed through a techno-cultural perspect ...

I draw upon the idea of the post digital to create (1) art for humanization of technology and (2)... more I draw upon the idea of the post digital to create (1) art for humanization of technology and (2) art as manifestations of digital qualities in the physical world, e.g., through digital-analog convergence, or through enriching our experiences with hybrid constellations of techniques, concepts and aesthetics. My work consists of two parts: practice-based research in the arts and conceptualizations arising from my practice. Four art projects are presented in this thesis: Metaphone, Delete By Haiku, S T R A T I C, and Panorama Time. My post-digital approach is manifest through the hacking activities, disruptive techniques and aesthetic approaches I apply. These thrive on a set of constitutive concepts: machine aesthetics, digital upcycling, aleatoricism and chance, deletion, repetition, fault aesthetics and glitch aesthetics. My post-digital aesthetic principles depend on machinic, systematic behaviors in the technologies I explore. Machine aesthetics expose operational and mechanical principles and behaviors. Digital upcycling is a repurposing design process wherein function follows form to add value to old defunct objects. I deploy chance in the design process through a "rolling a dice" approach. I use both deletion and insertion repetitively as design principles. In my work, I also induce technical faults and take deliberate control of machine glitches. These are all aesthetic approaches that help transform the "cold" appearance of information technologies and bring them closer to people, thereby humanizing technology. Some of the aesthetic principles (e.g., machine aesthetics or glitch aesthetics) might not seem "natural" or "human" but I use them to explore digital materiality analogously to how steel, iron and other materials were approached from the early phases of the industrial revolution and Modernism. As such these aesthetic principles are ways of interrogating the digital thriving off a cultural-historical point of view.

Leonardo, 2017

comprehensive database of thesis abstracts (PhD, Masters and MFA) on topics at the intersections ... more comprehensive database of thesis abstracts (PhD, Masters and MFA) on topics at the intersections between art, science and technology. This Englishlanguage database is hosted by Pomona College (Claremont, CA). In addition to being published in the database, a selection of abstracts chosen by a peer review panel for their special relevance will be published annually in Leonardo journal and on the Leonardo website. The deadline for receipt of abstracts for review by the LABS peer review panel is 30 June each year. Abstract rankings are announced in the autumn. Authors of abstracts most highly ranked by the panel are invited to submit an article for publication consideration in Leonardo. The aim of LABS is not to duplicate existing thesis databases but rather to give visibility to interdisciplinary work, which is often hard to retrieve from existing databases. The LABS Peer Review Panel for 2016–2017 consisted of Alan Boldon, Yiannis Colakides, Angus Forbes, Copper Frances Giloth, Lawrence Harvey, Tom Leeser, Iannis Zannos and Ionat Zurr. To submit a thesis abstract or browse ones currently published in the English-language database, visit .

Through our art project, Metaphone, we explored a particular form of aesthetics referred to in th... more Through our art project, Metaphone, we explored a particular form of aesthetics referred to in the arts tradition as machine aesthetics. The Metaphone machine collects the participant's bio-data, Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and Heart Rate (HR), creating a process of movement, painting and sound. The machine behaves in machine-like, aesthetically evocative ways: a shaft on two large wheels rotates on the floor, carrying paint that is dripped onto a large sheet of aquarelle paper on the floor according to bio-sensor data. A soundscape rhythmically follows the bio-sensor data, but also has its own machine-like sounds. Six commentators were invited to interact with the machine. They reported a strangely relaxing atmosphere induced by the machine. Based on these experiences we discuss how different art styles can help to describe aesthetics in interaction design generally, and how machine aesthetics in particular can be used to create interesting, sustained, stylistically coherent interactions.

Through various forms of interaction, the Metaphone1 project asks important questions about relat... more Through various forms of interaction, the Metaphone1 project asks important questions about relationship between human and machine (in the fields of interac- tive arts and Human-Computer Interactio ...

Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, 2017

This pictorial intends to show a usage-hacking case of everyday technology for creating visual na... more This pictorial intends to show a usage-hacking case of everyday technology for creating visual narratives. Storytelling through visual appearance could be significantly relevant and inspirational to design and HCI. This technique is also a design approach in itself; by deliberate navigation and control, the user breaks the panorama view. In this pictorial, we demonstrate examples and show the process of creating our digital photography art project "Panorama Time". In this project, a mobile phone camera's panorama mode is used to tweak time and space. By showing how we hacked the digital artefact, we also discuss insights from several experiments, thereby considering possibilities of establishing such digital experiments in their own right. A presented technique could also be a method for sketching ideas through the photographic medium.

Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '16, 2016

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology - ACE '15, 2015

Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '16, 2016

Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI EA '16, 2016

CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems on - CHI EA '13, 2013

Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '16, 2016

This pictorial intends to show a usage-hacking case of everyday technology for creating visual na... more This pictorial intends to show a usage-hacking case of everyday technology for creating visual narratives. Storytelling through visual appearance could be significantly relevant and inspirational to design and HCI. This technique is also a design approach in itself; by deliberate navigation and control, the user breaks the panorama view. In this pictorial, we demonstrate examples and show the process of creating our digital photography art project " Panorama Time ". In this project, a mobile phone camera's panorama mode is used to tweak time and space. By showing how we hacked the digital artefact, we also discuss insights from several experiments, thereby considering possibilities of establishing such digital experiments in their own right. A presented technique could also be a method for sketching ideas through the photographic medium.

Repurposing Bits and Pieces of the Digital / Delete by Haiku - Digital Upcycling

Repurposing refers to a broad set of practices, such as recycling or upcycling, all aiming to mak... more Repurposing refers to a broad set of practices, such as recycling or upcycling, all aiming to make better use of or give new life to physical materials and artefacts. While these practices have an obvious interest regarding sustainability issues, they also bring about unique aesthetics and values that may inspire design beyond sustainability concerns. What if we can harness these qualities in digital materials? We introduce Delete by Haiku, an application that transforms old mobile text messages into haiku poems. We elaborate on how the principles of repurposing – working on a low budget, introducing chance and combining the original values with the new ones – can inform interaction design in evoking some of these aesthetic values. This approach changes our views on what constitutes " digital materials " and the opportunities they offer. We also connect recent debates concerning ownership of data with discussions in the arts on the " Death of the Author. " AUTHOR