RISD Research Presents Projects by Students, Faculty and Alums Integrating Art, Design and Science

RISD students, faculty members and alums are taking advantage of new funding streams to push the boundaries of interdisciplinary research methodologies and generate creative solutions to regional and global problems. Director of Research Soul Brown (see top photo) and the RISD Research team have been helping campus community members to apply for grants and consider partnerships that support their work and were delighted to organize A I R: Arts Innovation Research, a showcase of the many kinds of ventures currently underway.

“These projects integrate art and science using quantitative as well as qualitative methods,” Brown explains. “RISD researchers apply different lenses to their work and often employ participatory practices that really bring the data to life, all of which made the showcase so dynamic.”

The event began with a convention-style presentation of 20 interactive exhibits inviting participants to explore projects focused on everything from southeast Asian design traditions to the glacial history of nearby Block Island to a board game highlighting the last 60 years of illustration. Visitors were also invited to tour the Co-Works Research Lab—RISD’s maker space, where many of these projects were hatched—and to meet one-on-one with RISD Research staff members and learn about upcoming grant opportunities.

Four of the researchers presented flash talks further elucidating their work. Recent Global Arts and Cultures grad Ruchika Nambiar MA 23 GAC, who is now teaching at RISD, shared her forthcoming, SPUR-funded publication Memes for the Soul, a kind of box set investigating the meme, a shared online experience she describes as “consolidating endless layers of meaning into a compact form.”

New grad Pei-Yu Hung 24 ID presented ongoing work she began as a student in the Industrial Design department investigating the benefits of play for elderly people living in assisted living facilities. Rather than adapting children’s toys and games for the elderly, Hung designs age-appropriate spaces, where seniors and their visiting loved ones feel comfortable. “Play is so important for everyone,” she explains. “It creates learning opportunities and promotes mental flexibility, social interaction, a sense of belonging, physical exercise and cognitive stimulation.”

Also focused on human interaction, new RISD faculty member Kelin Carolyn Zhang presented the Poetry Camera, an AI-driven project she has been collaborating on with RISD alum Ryan Mather 15 ID. The pair used Chat GPT to design the camera, which uses visual cues to produce poetry and was a huge hit at the showcase. Here’s a brief sample of the kind of poetry the camera creates:

“A glint off glasses, patterned shirt
Frames eager grin,
Camera poised, ready for moments,
For brightness through tall windows.”

“The Poetry Camera subverts the user’s expectations,” Zhang explains. “It’s about using artificial intelligence to have fun and make connections.”

Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture Emily Vogler presented multiple projects focused on inviting local people to act as environmental stewards for the rivers and watersheds in their communities. During her flash talk, she asked simple but loaded questions like “Who owns our water and coastlines?” Vogler shared a plaster model of the Blackstone River, a body of water she has been studying for years, and discussed aging dam infrastructure, public access, combined sewer overflow and fish migration, ongoing problems her work addresses.

The evening event came to a close with a roundtable discussion featuring Soul Brown, Associate Professor of Industrial Design Jess Brown MID 09, fellow faculty member and “anti-disciplinary artist” S.A. Chavarría and transdisciplinary designer, public artist and educator Curry J. Hackett, who participated virtually. The panel considered AI’s biases against people of color (for example, predictive policing) as well as its ability to challenge traditional concepts of creation and ownership and illuminate (in Chavarría’s words) “the nature of language, consciousness and reality itself.” 

Simone Solondz / photos by Jo Sittenfeld MFA 08 PH
October 3, 2024