The Augmented Attention Lab
June 3-6, 2019
Pistori Palace, Bratislava, Slovakia

Jonathan Reus and Sissel Marie Tonn are organizing The Augmented Attention Lab as part of Sensorium Festival (June 7-9). They are looking for participants from different disciplines to take part in this lab. The open call deadline is April 15.

In this lab we will explore ways of creating technologies and practices, that focuses and fine-tunes our attention towards sensing varied intensities of change within our environment. We will be exploring the subject by looking at qualitative methods such as ‘microphenomenology’, which is used to zoom in on the fine gradients of human experience of the world, as well as explore ways of ‘hacking’ sensory perception, through exercises and field trips within the city of Bratislava and beyond. We invite makers to come together to build new wearable/portable tools and develop sensory practices, that augment the body in order to sense environmental changes, happening at the threshold of the human sensory spectrum.

Participate

The Augmented Attention lab is looking for practitioners, who are interested in developing technologies (in the widest sense of the word) that afford awareness and attention towards our surroundings, and who wish to engage with these issues through a collaborative making process. We look for a mix of artists, designers, musicians, neuroscientists, technologists, etc, who are willing to step out of their comfort zone, for a 4 day intensive pressure cooker. The facilitators of the lab will focus on wearable sensor systems and e-textile practices as a point of departure, but we welcome all inventions/interventions that challenge the perceptual and sensory modes of the body within its environment.

Practicalities

The Augmented Attention Lab will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia from the 3rd – 6th of June. Participation in the lab is free (thanks to generous support by Goethe Institut Bratislava). Note that participants need to arrange and pay their own travel to and accommodation in Bratislava. There will be digital fabrication amenities and tools available for production and prototyping on site.

The lab is part of Sensorium Festival: the first Slovak festival making sense of creative technology. The main Sensorium programme takes place June 7th – 9th featuring conference programme, interactive exhibition, live performances and cross-disciplinary workshops. Throughout 2019 Sensorium addresses the theme ‘The Augmented Mind’.

The Augmented Attention Lab will culminate in an open lab session at the beginning of Sensorium Festival. Curious visitors will be invited to look behind the scenes, test prototypes and talk with lab participants about their work.