squared
AI will eventually surpass the human brain but getting jokes ... that could take time. (Geoffrey Hinton)
Exploring A/I Artistic Intelligence
Irony is about contradictions that do not resolve into larger wholes, even dialectically, about the tension of holding incompatible things together because both or all are necessary and true. Irony is about humour and serious play. It is also a rhetorical strategy and a political method,
one I would like to see more honoured within socialist-feminism. (Donna Haraway)
Photo credit: Antje Budde
Project title PLAYStrong – Mental Health and Interactive Prototypes for Self-Learning
Report
Oct.4, 2023
Written and web-design by Antje Budde
Project leads: Antje Budde and Mark Chignell
Brief Description
In the Fall of 2021 the Digital Dramaturgy Labsquared (DDL2) was awarded the interdisciplinary XSEED grant in collaboration with the Interactive Media Lab, U of T. This was followed in 2023 by an inaugural INLIGHT research award through the recently established INLIGHT Student Mental Health Research.
Our PLAYStrong research project investigated opportunities and potentials for creative, performance-based, interactive and participatory learning (inspired by Brechtian concepts of learning plays) in support of everyday student mental health and wellbeing, focussed on prevention, awareness, playful self-discovery and solidarity.
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We are grateful to the funding partners of XSEED at U of T: Engineering Department, Faculty of Arts and Science, Dept. for Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies.
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We are grateful to the many students (undergraduate, graduate, post-doc) from divers disciplinary and cultural backgrounds, who participated in this research project in a number of capacities.
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We are grateful to all staff members and administrators who supported this project with their labor and expertise.
Projects
Research output produced between Sept.2021 and August 2023.
Participatory Praxis/Research Workshops
Oct.23-24, 2021
arttech: Performance and Embodiment in Technology for Resilience and Mental Health
- Organized by Antje Budde, Mark Chignell and Jamy Li.
CSCW2021 24th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work And Social Computing
Website by Jamy Li
Workshop creative interaction design and digital dramaturgy: Antje Budde, Don Sinclair and Joy Tanner
Summer/Fall 2022
arttech workshop documentation
Video showcase by Antje Budde
Documentation website by Antje Budde
April-May 2023. THREE week workshop
PLAYStrong: Performing wellbeing, creative resilience – Testing interactive performance spaces
- Conceptualized and organized by Antje Budde
- Co-organized by Mark Chignell and Youzhi Hu (doctoral student)
- Learning strategist and student focus group facilitator: Rahul Bhat
- International artist collaborators: Renusha Athugala (Vietnam), Gustavo Sol (Brazil) and Danielle Lottridge (New Zealand)
- Computational artist collaborator: Don Sinclair, York U.
- Indigenous creative observer: Candy Otsikh:èta Blair
- Student interns: Tanya Humeniuk, Thais Holanda, Powrnika Kugathasan, Ethan Persyko
- 14 student focus group members
June-July 2023
PLAYStrong Workshop documentation
Website creation by Tanja Humeniuk, supervised by Antje Budde
Project presentation
Oct.1, 2022
“PLAYStrong – Mental Health and Interactive Prototypes for Embodied Self-learning”
Antje Budde with Mark Chignell.
Oct.1, 2022. Critical Digital Humanities International Conference, Toronto Sept.30-Oct.1, 2022. Munk Centre, University of Toronto.
Slides: Antje Budde. Digital Dramaturgy Labsquared, open access library.
Community-focussed research and exchanges
Sept. 2021 - July 2023
Research on mental health discourses
Representations over the past 10-15 years in Varsity, U of T News, University of Toronto Magazine, and artistic explorations The Theatre Times
Facilitated and supervised by Antje Budde and post-doctoral fellow Sebastian Samur, CDTPS
Pre-liminary report: Sebastian Samur
2021-22 work-study students: Liam Donovan and Stefania Stoica
2022-23 research assistants: Amir Haidar, Ohryong Kwon, Evan Moritz, Yizhou Zhang
March 3, 2022
Dancing Tensions – Taanteatro Companhia (Brazil) in conversation
Facilitated and organized by Antje Budde and Don Sinclair/Susan Lee York. U.
Presenters:
Maura Baiocchi - Choreographer and dancer. Sao Paolo
Wolfgang Pannek - Artistic director. Sao Paolo
Panelists:
Candy (Otsíkh:èta) Blair - Interdisciplinary Artist. Tkaronto
Mark Chignell - Director of the Interactive Media Lab, U of T. Toronto
Ilja Mirsky - (Digital) Dramaturg and scholar on human-ai interactions. Zurich, Tübingen.
Yizhou Zhang - Experimental theatre maker and doctoral student, U of T. Toronto
Reece Caldwell, Representative York Dance Ensemble, York University, Toronto
March 2022
Dancing Tension Event documentation and website: Antje Budde
April 27, 2022
Activate!
Roundtable discussion with student mental health activists at U of T
Facilitated and organized by Antje Budde and post-doctoral fellow Sebastian Samur, CDTPS
Moderated by Antje Budde and Mark Chignell
Participating student mental health activists:
HannaRae Sabyan, Lauren Kroell, Sofia Assaker, Philip Zawistowski, David Birsan. Contributing but not present: Sydnie Philips
Work-study student assistants: Liam Donovan and Stefania Stoica
Summer 2023
Activate! - Roundtable transcription and reporting
Pre-liminary report: Sebastian Samur
Text transcription of video recording: Evan Moritz, Yizhou Zhang (research assistants)
Independent Studies Course
Summer 2023
"DRA4091H: Brecht, Transmedia, and Learning"
Directed reading course designed by Antje Budde and Tanya Humeniuk.
Publications
Budde, Antje and Gustavo Sol. “PLAYStrong–Engineering POETICstates: On Facilitating Mental Health through Bio-Signal Interfaces and Brechtian Learning Strategies" Critical Stages/Scènes critiques The IATC journal/Revue de l'AICT – June/Juin 2022: Issue No 25. Web.
Budde, Antje, Mark Chignell, and Jamy Li. 2021. arttech: Performance and Embodiment in Technology for Resilience and Mental Health. In Companion Publication of the 2021 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW ’21 Companion), October 23–27, 2021, Virtual Event, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 5 pages. pp.310–314. https://doi.org/10.1145/3462204.3481728
Publications - Forthcoming
BOOK Antje Budde, Mark Chignell and Jamy Li “arttech: Embodied Performance and Technology supporting Resilience and Mental Health”: (working title)
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Manuscript (180 p.) currently under peer review by the publisher
ARTICLE by several authors, currently under blind peer review. Details cannot be disclosed at this point.
END OF REPORT