Digital Materials
by: Veronika AumannDigital Materials
series 01: Autorials and Acterials
Autorials simply and stoically transform a predetermined action, whereas Acterials redefine their output based on currently given physical information. The logic of detecting, interpreting, calculating and acting is here directly embodied in the material, enabling it to behave in a self-organised way.
The series of Autorials and Acterials is part of the practice-based research project Digital Materials, that addresses two current phenomena that are discussed under the terms „Digital Turn“ and „Material Turn“. The research is concerned with making digital processes effective and actually tangible in physical materials. From these self-acting materials, possible new forms of interaction between man, machine and material are developed. Here, the radically new approach of „digital materials“ is opposed to the mere digitalisation of known analog formats: in this project, materials are designed and developed that are both digital and physical, that in fact absorb, analyze, process, and display digital information within themselves.
Veronika Aumann is a textile designer and researcher focusing on the relations between man, machine and material. Based on her previous work with responsive textiles and shape-change materials, i.a. in collaboration with Fraunhofer IZM and IWU and Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, she is currently working on her practice-based research project Digital Materials supervised by Prof. Dr. Jörg Petruschat and Prof. Dr. Zane Berzina at weißensee kunsthochschule berlin.
