Project ICE: Isolated, Confined, Extreme Environments – a design fiction workshop
In September 2013, D6 and Culture Lab presented Project ICE: Isolated, Confined, Extreme Environments – A design fiction workshop, facilitated by Regina Peldszus, Alex Salam and Gabriella Arrigoni. The lab took place inside The Big M, our inflatable mobile exhibition space, as part of On the Precipice outside The Civic Centre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
'Design Fiction' is an experimental approach that adopts fictional scenarios, alternate realities or authentic speculation to explore emerging technologies and social practices, their potential uses, developments and consequences for the human condition or the individual. Through new prototypes, alternative versions of existing devices or imaginary objects that cater for latent human needs, it interrogates and critiques specific currents in the socio-techno-economic evolution.
Regina Peldszus is a design researcher specialising in living and working conditions in space stations and other extreme environments. Dr Alex Salam is an infectious diseases and extreme environment doctor. Along with Gabriella Arrigoni, a curator and PhD researcher in digital media based at Culture Lab, Newcastle University, participants were invited to experience and respond to a simulated environment inside The Big M.
The goal of the workshop was to discuss and determine design requirements for a high security, rapid deployment, life sciences laboratory for remote polar environments in anticipation of a possible global pandemic. Participants convened inside a prototype of the structure (The Big M) and assumed the perspectives of representatives of a consortium of corporate and governmental stakeholders who operate the research facility. The group devised conceptual systems, products and services to support a small crew of scientists and technicians to live and work on site long-term without direct outside support or contact. The emphasis of their engagement was be placed on human needs in extreme, isolated settings, and reconciling psychological and ethical issues within the constraints of a remote and extreme environmental context.
Aims of the workshop
Workshop Facilitators
Regina Peldszus is a design researcher focusing on human technology interaction in sociotechnical systems in space and other extreme environments. With a background in design strategy and space studies, Regina has worked on human factors projects in the European space sector and contributed to human-in-the-loop simulations in Russia and the US. Her work centers on the design implications of human behaviour and performance issues in crewed and uncrewed exploration missions. Regina holds a PhD in design research and is a member of the Space Architecture Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics.
Dr Alex Salam is an infectious diseases and extreme environment doctor. He graduated in medicine in 2003, and following training in a number of clinical specialities, he left the comforts of civilisation in 2008 and took on the role of the European Space Agency Human Spaceflight Medicine Research MD at Concordia station on the high Antarctic plateau, the coldest most remote research base on the planet. He spent 13 months researching the effects of extreme isolation and confinement on the human immune system, sleep and behaviour. Since returning he worked with NASA's Behavioural Health and Performance Element, NASA's Habitable Volume Community of Practice, and the European Astronaut Centre, focusing on behavioural issues related to living in isolation. He has been a guest lecturer at the International Space University and is a visiting tutor at Central Saint Martin's College of Arts and Design, and as worked with artists and designers including Tomas Saraceno, Nelly Ben Hayoun and Louise Wilson.
Gabriella Arrigoni is a PhD researcher in digital media art curating. Her research interests lie at the intersection of art and science, collaborative practices, urban and performance studies. Former editor in chief of undo.net, the first Italian online platform for contemporary art, she has curated a number of exhibitions and talks in not-for profit spaces. She has presented her research at international conferences such as ISEA and xCoAx. Her research focuses on the idea of Living Laboratory conceived as an experimental curatorial strategy where practitioners work in a public setting to enhance the audience understanding of the artistic, technological and scientific dimensions of the work.
The workshop took place in The Big M – D6's’ inflatable mobile exhibition venue, situated outside The Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne on Saturday 7th September 2013.
The Big M tour is supported by the Arts Council’s Strategic Touring Programme and Culture lab, Newcastle University.
Culture Lab is the focal point for research in human-computer interaction and digital creative practice at Newcastle University and its members engage in experimental and cross-disciplinary projects in interaction design and creative digital arts in a technologically rich and custom designed environment. Culture Lab is home to Newcastle University’s Digital Interaction and Digital Media research groups.
'Design Fiction' is an experimental approach that adopts fictional scenarios, alternate realities or authentic speculation to explore emerging technologies and social practices, their potential uses, developments and consequences for the human condition or the individual. Through new prototypes, alternative versions of existing devices or imaginary objects that cater for latent human needs, it interrogates and critiques specific currents in the socio-techno-economic evolution.
Regina Peldszus is a design researcher specialising in living and working conditions in space stations and other extreme environments. Dr Alex Salam is an infectious diseases and extreme environment doctor. Along with Gabriella Arrigoni, a curator and PhD researcher in digital media based at Culture Lab, Newcastle University, participants were invited to experience and respond to a simulated environment inside The Big M.
The goal of the workshop was to discuss and determine design requirements for a high security, rapid deployment, life sciences laboratory for remote polar environments in anticipation of a possible global pandemic. Participants convened inside a prototype of the structure (The Big M) and assumed the perspectives of representatives of a consortium of corporate and governmental stakeholders who operate the research facility. The group devised conceptual systems, products and services to support a small crew of scientists and technicians to live and work on site long-term without direct outside support or contact. The emphasis of their engagement was be placed on human needs in extreme, isolated settings, and reconciling psychological and ethical issues within the constraints of a remote and extreme environmental context.
Aims of the workshop
- Engage with scientific and technological research around issues of life in extreme physical and psychological conditions.
- Engage with design and innovation processes intended as the understanding of needs, behaviours, aspirations, and transforming these into practices around a product/service.
- Engage in a form of participation that blurs the boundaries between performance and real-life, and learn how enactment and performance can be an inspirational methodological tool for design.
- Explore team-work dynamics in the framework of a design process: negotiating values, visions, priorities, beliefs.
- Explore both human-machine interaction and social interaction in a fictional scenario.
- Explore how specific emerging technologies and knowledge might have an impact on people's lives.
Workshop Facilitators
Regina Peldszus is a design researcher focusing on human technology interaction in sociotechnical systems in space and other extreme environments. With a background in design strategy and space studies, Regina has worked on human factors projects in the European space sector and contributed to human-in-the-loop simulations in Russia and the US. Her work centers on the design implications of human behaviour and performance issues in crewed and uncrewed exploration missions. Regina holds a PhD in design research and is a member of the Space Architecture Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics.
Dr Alex Salam is an infectious diseases and extreme environment doctor. He graduated in medicine in 2003, and following training in a number of clinical specialities, he left the comforts of civilisation in 2008 and took on the role of the European Space Agency Human Spaceflight Medicine Research MD at Concordia station on the high Antarctic plateau, the coldest most remote research base on the planet. He spent 13 months researching the effects of extreme isolation and confinement on the human immune system, sleep and behaviour. Since returning he worked with NASA's Behavioural Health and Performance Element, NASA's Habitable Volume Community of Practice, and the European Astronaut Centre, focusing on behavioural issues related to living in isolation. He has been a guest lecturer at the International Space University and is a visiting tutor at Central Saint Martin's College of Arts and Design, and as worked with artists and designers including Tomas Saraceno, Nelly Ben Hayoun and Louise Wilson.
Gabriella Arrigoni is a PhD researcher in digital media art curating. Her research interests lie at the intersection of art and science, collaborative practices, urban and performance studies. Former editor in chief of undo.net, the first Italian online platform for contemporary art, she has curated a number of exhibitions and talks in not-for profit spaces. She has presented her research at international conferences such as ISEA and xCoAx. Her research focuses on the idea of Living Laboratory conceived as an experimental curatorial strategy where practitioners work in a public setting to enhance the audience understanding of the artistic, technological and scientific dimensions of the work.
The workshop took place in The Big M – D6's’ inflatable mobile exhibition venue, situated outside The Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne on Saturday 7th September 2013.
The Big M tour is supported by the Arts Council’s Strategic Touring Programme and Culture lab, Newcastle University.
Culture Lab is the focal point for research in human-computer interaction and digital creative practice at Newcastle University and its members engage in experimental and cross-disciplinary projects in interaction design and creative digital arts in a technologically rich and custom designed environment. Culture Lab is home to Newcastle University’s Digital Interaction and Digital Media research groups.