Briefing

We find ourselves in an exciting cultural and technological moment. From technical innovations like AI-driven computer vision, computational photography, new high-tech sensors for autonomous cars, VR/AR, and 360° consumer cameras to radical changing communication and consumer habits. Restaurants and cities have to be optimized to be “instagrammable” as the selfie in front of a nice backdrop is more important than the experience itself, or AirBnB’s breakthrough came with the simple realization that the hosts were taking lousy photos and increasing the photo quality led to a dramatic increase of listings and rents, etc. Hence it seems safe to say that the future of “seeing” in a broad sense is currently wide open and the possibilities/changes are rapidly evolving.

In this course, students are asked to explore new/changed/altered ways of current and future perceptions of the concept of seeing. From analyzing and improving existing objects/products/tools/services to showcasing radical new ways of seeing to inspire debate about their human consequences – social, cultural, and ethical implications, both positive and negative.