Full scholarships: Workshop Shadows and Whispers with Philip Beesley and Rob Gorbet

The Living Architecture Systems Group (LASG) and the Domaine de Boisbuchet are pleased to announce a unique opportunity for architecture, art and design students around the globe. Through cooperation with the LASG and Boisbuchet, we have arranged a small fund to allow a select group of students to participate in Philip Beesley, Rob Gorbet and the LASG’s workshop: Shadows and Whispers: Emerging Forms at the Edges of Nature, August 7 – 13. Stipends awarded by the LASG will cover full registration and accommodation fees for a small group of students.

How to apply:

Interested students should provide a sample of their work and a brief cover letter indicating interest to Guillermo Gil Fernández at guillermo.gil@boisbuchet.org, copying Rekha Ramachandran at rramachandran@lasg.ca, by July 7, 2022. To help guide the selection of students, we would like to understand why this workshop is of interest to you and how this might benefit your own development. This program seeks to support students who would otherwise not have the means to support their participation in this workshop. We kindly ask that only students in need of this support apply.

The Workshop – Shadows and Whispers – August 7 – 13, 2022

Nature and technology can seem like different worlds. However, could these worlds cross over and combine into new forms? What can we learn from the patterns of nature and, in reverse, what can we offer nature? Could the subtle boundaries between artificial and natural worlds hold keys to new kinds of harmony in our expanded, turbulent world?

The workshop is about sound and light, human-made and natural. We’ll experiment in order to create a hybrid sound and lightscape in an installation that seeks to find new conversations with the world of nature. In a series of talks and explorations, we will reflect on some of the endless connections and endless transitions that can be found in the world. We will create fields of new space by using artificially created sounds and tones, interwoven with our own lights and shadows. Within whispering sounds, new voices might be heard. Within glimmering shadows, dream-like worlds might be seen. This will be about listening and watching carefully, understanding and answering. We hope to create a deeply interwoven new world, operated with the support of technical and digital devices and installed within Boisbuchet’s unique architecture and nature.

Philip Beesley and Rob Gorbet’s Toronto-based sculpture and interactive systems studio is working with the international researchers of the Living Architecture Systems Group, preparing kits of simple electronic devices and geometric constructions to equip students for the workshop. We will bring these to the workshop and share them to make electroacoustic and lighting devices that explore the boundaries between sound, light, and motion. Simple electronic controllers will be shared, with coding that can be manipulated by beginners without prior training. Devices for creating movements and sound will be included. Geometric kits can be extended by using materials found within the grounds of the Domaine. After an introductory day where we follow kit patterns that introduce some specialized ways of working, individual exploration will follow. In the last days of the workshop, we will draw these explorations together into a collective installation and performance.

Following the completion of this workshop, awarded students will also contribute to an open-access publication documenting the work. Students will be asked to participate in the coordination, graphics, and writing of this publication.

For more information, please visit: https://www.boisbuchet.org/workshop/shadows-and-whispers-emerging-forms-at-the-edges-of-nature/

Living Architecture Systems Group

Led by Philip Beesley and Rob Gorbet from the University of Waterloo, the Living Architecture Systems Group brings together researchers and industry partners in a multidisciplinary research cluster dedicated to developing built environments with qualities that come close to life— environments that can move, respond, and learn, with metabolisms that can exchange and renew their environments, and which are adaptive and empathic towards their inhabitants. Supported by Waterloo, Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and contributions from numerous partners, LAS is focused on developing innovative technologies, new critical aesthetics, and integrative design working methods, helping equip a new generation of designers with critical next-generation skills and critical perspectives for working with complex environments. https://livingarchitecturesystems.com/

Domaine de Boisbuchet

Boisbuchet was the dream of a design amateur and expert: Alexander von Vegesack, founding director of the Vitra Design Museum. He wanted a place where design meets education, in a large sense. Some 30 years ago, he bought the 150 hectares Domaine de Boisbuchet. Since then, professionals and students come every year to experience how internationally successful professionals structure their work, and how they approach design problems. Every year, we invite the most inspiring architects & designers from all over the world, to give a week-long workshop at the Domaine de Boisbuchet in South-West France. Every tutor takes into account the inspiring natural environment, and crafts a theme for participants to build upon. Every single workshop is a unique hands-on experience, with the guarantee of learning by doing with materials and tools provided by Boisbuchet. Throughout the week, participants get insight on the process & techniques of top designers, and have the opportunity to connect with like-minded, passionate people. https://www.boisbuchet.org/