In an increasingly digitised age, how can we bring inclusivity into
spatial design and how can individuals represent themselves in such
spaces? This highlights the relationship between environmental
sensing and human representations. Inspired by methods of
volumetric cinema, The Current Team produced a 12-min immersive
film to reconstruct headline events in 2019.
A pipeline with XR and AI tools was designed to help automate and democratise volumetric
cinema production, which is constantly updated with new opensource
tools. This inspired series of free+open-to-all participatory
workshops worldwide that focus on sharing knowledge of digital
tools with citizens to co-create future vision(s) and diversify data
representations. The team will showcase both its initial prototype
and selected workshop outcome from Hong Kong, Madrid, and
Futurly.
#ParticipatoryDesign is a design method that actively
involves stakeholders in design processes to ensure outcomes align
with users’ interests. PD considers citizens not as passive
consumers of services, but active contributors in the daily life of
cities. The use of technologies may enhance the immersiveness and
affective experiences of mass communication.
#ExtendedRealities
refers to immersive technologies that bring together physical +
digital environments, including VR, AR, and MR. Participants work
with XR as co-creation tools to show their vision of the future. By
mapping point-of-views together, XR may help to create not simply
spatial designs, but volumetric happenings.
#ArtificialIntelligence
Current focuses on the use of neural networks in an increasingly
3-Dimensional, seamless media environment. With emerging trends
in metaverse, omniverse, and digital humans, it looks at how 3D
data can be synthesised and automated as scalable workflows.
#sustainableHabitats summarise the array of resources - physical,
social, economical, and cultural - that sustain communities. Through
co-design processes, we collaborate with local communities and
social enterprises to develop with participants a critical
understanding.
‘Current’ is a collaborative digital practice driven by an interest in
the reciprocal relationships between virtual and physical spaces.
Through the medium of volumetric cinema, ‘Current’ delineates the
multiplicity of futures in the attention economy and its material
manifestation.
An interdisciplinary, intercultural collective based in
China/Russia/Europe/UK/USA, we are a team of architects,
researchers, artists, CG animators, engineers, data-analysts, and
programmers working at the intersection of art, science and
technology.
‘The Current Team’ denotes its broader network of
Creative Commons - we experiment first-hand with digital
technologies that are readily available to any individuals, designing
distributive pipelines to support a ‘collaborative intelligence’ - the
democratisation of intelligent tools into a crowdsourced, problemsolving
network. ‘Current’ has exhibited and taught worldwide,
including Rijksmuseum Twenthe, UABB 2022, The Bartlett UCL,
GOGBOT festival, CultureHub LA, UCLA Sci | Art Lab,
SUPERCOLLIDER Gallery, and more.
