Interaction design

Note: Paik Replayed: Non-Digital Art Transformed by Hybrid Exhibition Practicies has just been published in the academic and peer-reviewed journal Kunstlicht, a research publication for art, visual culture, and architecture, edited and published by the Arts and Culture department at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Paik Replayed  is a SNSF funded research, led by Patrick Keller, with fabric | ch and the Nam June Paik Art Center (prototype) as field partners, and hosted at ECAL / University of Art and Design, Lausanne (HES-SO).

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By paikreplayed.org (on Instagram)

 

 

 

 

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Note: fabric | ch is participating in the Paik Replayed research project, a Swiss National Science Foundation funded research, which focuses on digital/hybrid exhibitions of non digital-native artworks. 

Patrick Keller and Christian Babski, both members of fabric | ch, are particularly involved as researchers and field partners, along with fellow researchers. fabric | ch having undertaken numerous digital exhibitions in the past.

We recently took part to the ISEA conference in Seoul (South Korea), to present the early outcomes of the research and take part in a panel. These endeavours are now published in the proceedings of the conference.

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By paikreplayed.org

The two papers, discussing hybrid exhibitions and the influence of early works from the Korean artists Nam June Paik on such tasks, are now accessible on the website of the research,

They can be accessed here: https://www.paikreplayed.org/2025/08/15/isea-2025-proceedings-two-papers-by-paik-replayed/

Note: Patrick Keller was part of the trip to Seoul (for both fabric | ch and ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne) to present the early results of the SNSF funded research Paik Replayed during the international conference ISEA 2025.

This was a week of talks, debates, panels, sounds, exhibitions, Nam June Paik and many more. 

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By paikreplayed.org (on Instagram)

 

 

 

 

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Note: fabric | ch is part of the exhibition Summoning the Ghosts of Modernity at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellin (MAMM), in Colombia.

The show constitutes a continuation of Beyond Matter that took place at the ZKM in 2022/23, and is curated by Lívia Nolasco-Rószás and Esteban Guttiérez Jiménez. 

The exhibition will be open between the 13th of March and 15th of June 2025.

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By fabric | ch

Atomized (re-)Staging (2022), by fabric | ch. Exhibited during Summing the Ghosts of Modernity at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellin (MAMM). March 13 to June 15 2025.

More pictures of the exhibtion on Pixelfed. 

Note (03.2024): The contents of the files (maps) have been updated as of 02.2024.

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Note (07.2021): As part of my teaching at ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne (HES-SO), I've delved into the historical ties between art and science. This ongoing exploration focuses on the connection between creative processes in art, architecture, and design, and the information sciences, particularly the computer, also known as the "Universal Machine" as coined by A. Turing. This informs the title of the graphs below and this post.

Through my work at fabric | ch, and previously as an assistant at EPFL followed by a professorship at ECAL, to experience first hand some of these massive transformations in society and culture.

Thus, in my theory courses, I've aimed to create "maps" that aid in comprehending, visualizing, and elucidating the flux and timelines of interactions among individuals, artifacts, and disciplines. These maps, imperfect and constrained by size, are continuously evolving and open to interpretation beyond my own. I regularly update them as part of the process.

Yet, in the absence of a comprehensive written, visual, or sensitive history of these techno-cultural phenomena as a whole, these maps serve as valuable approximation tools for grasping the flows and exchanges that either unite or divide them. They offer a starting point for constructing personal knowledge and delving deeper into these subjects.

This is precisely why, despite their inherent fuzziness - or perhaps because of it - I choose to share them on this blog (fabric | rblg), in an informal manner. It's an invitation for other artists, designers, researchers, teachers, students, and so forth, to begin building upon them, to depict different flows, to develop pre-existing or subsequent ideas, or even more intriguingly, to diverge from them. If such advancements occur, I'm keen on featuring them on this platform. Feel free to reach out for suggestions, comments, or to share new developments.

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It's worth mentioning that the maps are structured horizontally along a linear timeline, spanning from the late 18th century to the mid-21st century, predominantly focusing on the industrial period. Vertically, they are organized around disciplines, with the bottom representing engineering, the middle encompassing art and design, and the top relating to humanities, social events, or movements.

Certainly, one might question this linear timeline, echoing the sentiments of writer B. Latour. What about considering a spiral timeline, for instance? Such a representation would still depict both the past and the future, while also illustrating the historical proximities of topics, connecting past centuries and subjects with our contemporary context in a circular manner. However, for the time being, and while recognizing its limitations, I adhere to the simplicity of the linear approach.

Countless narratives can emerge as inherent properties of the graphs, underscoring that they are not their origins but rather products thereof.

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The selection of topics (code, scores-instructions, countercultural, network-related, interaction, "post-...") currently aligns with the themes of my teaching but is subject to expansion, possibly toward an underlying layer revealing the material conditions that underpinned and facilitated the entire process.

In any case, this could serve as a fruitful starting point for some further readings or perhaps a new "Where's Waldo/Wally" kind of game!

Via fabric | ch

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By Patrick Keller

Rem.: By clicking on the thumbnails below you'll get access to HD versions.

"Universal Machine", main map (late 18th to mid 21st centuries):

Flows in the map > "Code":

Flows in the map > "Scores, Partitions, ...":

 Flows in the map > "Countercultural, Subcultural, ...":

Flows in the map >  "Network Related":

Flows in the map > "Interaction":

Flows in the map > "Post-Internet/Digital, "Post -..." , "Neo -...", ML/AI":

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To be continued (& completed) ...

Note: as part of a year-long preliminary research into digital exhibitions, we teamed up with the Nam June Paik Art Center (South Korea) - and their incredible collection and archive of Nam June Paik's works -, as well as ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, to deliver initial thoughts and proofs of concept.

Late last year saw the publication of Mnemosyne, a book on "History and Research in Arts and Design" (ed. Davide Fornari, published by ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne (HES-SO)). 

In this context, I had the chance to be in conversation with NJPAC curator Sang Ae Park about this joint research. Among other topics, we discussed the unrealized piece  – at the time – "Symphony for 20 rooms"  (1961) by Nam June Paik as a potential inspiration for "remote" exhibitions, at home.

This discussion gave ground to the paper "A Symphony for Nam June Paik, Digitally" (below), while this preliminary research is likely to continue in the form of a longer-term research.

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By Patrick Keller

Note: this Saturday (04.11) fabric | ch will receive the "Architecture & Landscape" price from the Art Council of Canton de Vaud (CH).

It is a rare but much-apreciated recognition of our work by the region where we've been working all those years (and, at the same occasion, also one to show our faces)! We're still waiting for an invitation to exhibit fabric | ch's work somewhere in our hometown though 😉

So rejoice, and let's celebrate together during the following drinks reception!

Via @fvpc

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Note: this well-documented publication, complete with essays and which also serves as a comprehensive exhibition catalogue, was released to coincide with the end of a European research project Beyond Matter. The research was led by the ZKM (Zentrum für Kunst une Medien, Karlsruhe) and Centre George Pompidou in Paris. The publication also came out as the exhibition catalogue in relation to two exhibitions held in 2023 – n ZKM and Centre Pompidou – about the research obectives.

Beyond Matter – Within Space is certainly destined to become a central work on the issue of digital art exhibition in our time.

In this context, fabric | ch – studio for architecture, interaction & research had the chance to be involved in the exhibition at the ZKM and work with around 200 digitized artworks (of historical signifiance) provided by the research team. The "experimental architecture" project fabric | ch created at this occasion, a new work, was entitled Atomized (re-)Staging.

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By Patrick Keller

Note: Satellite Daylight Pavilion (2017) – pdf file documentation HERE – by fabric | ch is presented during Chengdu Biennale at AC Cube in Chengdu (Sichuan, CN).

The piece is an architectural experimentation, displayed as 4 videos in loops, and articulated around two "environmental devices", namely two Satellight Daylight pieces, which tend to reorganize and entertwine the natural rythms of day and night within the pavilion. 

This creates a form of luminous phasing between two spatio-temporal referents (the localized one of London's Hyde Park and those of two fictitious satellites circling the Earth), hybridizing their time and space... in a quest for a new liveable relationship with the now mediated space.

The work is part of the exhibition Community of the Future: The Same Frequency and Resonance (images below) and is curated by Guo Jinman.

Via @fabricch_asfound  (fabric | ch's default Instragram account)

 

 

 

 

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Note: fabric | ch presented its recent works at the Centre Pompidou in early July, as part of the Moviment program of exhibitions/performances/conferences/projections. We took part in Chapter 9: Beyond Matter.

The focus of the weekend was a return to the historic exhibition "Les Immatériaux" (1985, cur. T. Chaput & J.F. Lyotard) and the contemporary questioning of the postmodern period.

Participants included artists who took part in Les Immatériaux (J.-L. Boissier, K. Thomadaki, J.-C. Fall), as well as contemporary curators such as H.-U. Obrist and D. Birnbaum, so as artists and filmmakers P. Parreno, A. Serra and philosopher A. Longo. 

Via @ptrckkllr

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