Connectivity and creativity in times of conflict
25-04-2023
Anne Marleen Olthof, PhD student at the Digital Life research group, presented at Cumulus 2023 in Antwerp her research paper ‘The body cannot be thought: design practice at the intersection of human-computer integration and critical disability studies to develop new paradigms for health and well-being’. The Cumulus Association is a global organization connecting education and research in the fields of art and design.
Critical disability studies
The paper contains an overview of the meta-context of the research project, in which Anne Marleen, based on a brief explanation of philosophy of science and design epistemology, indicates how she wants to develop a highly-innovative field of human and technology (Human-Computer Integration) connected with the sophisticated and very specific field of being human: Critical Disability Studies.
Fusion
Anne Marleen: ‘I started my project in September 2022 and in recent months, I have written several papers to further shape the context of my research project. I discovered that I really like to write. In addition to the expertise from various research areas, my project also focuses on the differences in culture, narratives and language use between these areas, and I look for ways to allow for the emergence of new paradigms for health and well-being. I want to shape this by establishing practices that concern all disciplines at the same time.’
‘Gradually I put the body and artistic performative practices more and more central, whereby ‘the limited body’ based on a disability and ‘the deviant body’ based on an integration with technology are no longer distinguished from each other. I do this by seeing the body itself as a material and as an expression to design with.’
Human-computer integration
Anne Marleen investigates how mutual dependency relationships can arise when humans and technology operate in a symbiotic partnership. In her research, this connection is viewed from a feminine point of view, creating more space for dialogue on sensitive and intimate topics that are quickly overlooked in the field of design - especially when it comes to bodies that deviate from the standard.
Anne Marleen Olthof is a PhD candidate in Bodily Integrated Systems at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Antwerp. She works at the Communication and Multimedia Design course at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. She has a lecturer’s PhD grant from the NWO. Her first supervisor is Prof. Somaya Ben Allouch, lecturer at the Digital Life research group and professor by special appointment at the University of Amsterdam. Her second supervisor is Prof. Jouke Verlinden of the Product Design Department at the University of Antwerp.