Workshop with Felix Kraemer

Firstly, Felix Kraemer, a graduate of BURG and the MIT Media Lab, presented his impressive work with insects, including in the Silk Pavilion project for Neri Oxman. The students were particularly impressed by the methods and interdisciplinary collaboration.
In the subsequent workshop with Felix Kraemer, the participants had the chance to benefit from his know-how in the field of experimental projects. Specifically, they learned to adopt different design methods to graphically represent, as well as evaluate and manage, experimental work with insects.
In order to support the workflow in extensive, open-ended, and research-based projects, it is a good idea to use a literature management program, such as Zotero or Citavi. In the field of product data management (PDM), optimized structures can also make the workflow more efficient. The students learned to create tables for this purpose. Participants can then adapt these individually to their preferred work patterns and to their future projects. To evaluate video recordings, the workshop used the tools Processing, OpenCV, Python, AfterEffects and a Raspberry Pie. These digital tools make it possible to examine videos for certain features, such as faces or movements, and thus graphically represent movements of the insects. This can be used in the design process to explore, categorize, and compare insect behaviors and responses.
To deepen this knowledge, the participants produced video recordings of various insects they had brought along, which were then read out using a Python script and translated into an image file that schematically represented the movement behavior of the animals. Another option was to use AfterEffect motion tracking to track movements and thus turn them into a graphical curve. Challenges in these exercises were to take into account the unpredictability of the animals, to create an optimally illuminated film set, as well as a neutral environment in order to collect meaningful data.