ERAM, MOME and Tampere University collaborate on research into technology, sustainability and more-than-human relationships

From 13 to 17 October, Ferran Altarriba Bertran, lecturer on the Bachelor’s Degree in Audiovisual Communication and Multimedia and director of ERAM’s Playful Living Lab, travelled to Budapest at the invitation of the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) to participate in a week of research and experimentation workshops as part of an international project in collaboration with Tampere University, Finland.

The initiative brought together researchers from all three institutions and 13 students from disciplines including interaction design, product design, digital media and the arts. Its aim was to explore how interactive design can help foster more conscious, respectful and caring relationships between people, technology and other forms of life.

The project is guided by the following question: How can we use design and interactive technologies to become more aware of our interdependence with the natural world and move towards more sustainable ways of living together?

To address this question, participants worked from perspectives including interaction design, biodesign and more-than-human design.

Throughout the week, students experimented with mycelium, the network of filaments that forms the vegetative part of fungi, combining living materials, playful exploration and interactive technology prototyping. The projects developed included systems that transform the human voice using data collected from mycelium, devices that make the needs of fungi perceptible, and interactive installations exploring how these organisms could influence our everyday activities.

Beyond the prototypes themselves, the project creates a space for reflection on how we can design technologies that encourage more reciprocal and respectful relationships with other forms of life, embracing a broader understanding of sustainability and our responsibility towards the natural environment.

Ferran Altarriba’s participation is part of the research activities of ERAM’s Playful Living Lab, which investigates how design and interactive technologies can contribute to creating more playful everyday experiences that are respectful of our surroundings. The initiative also strengthens the lab’s international collaboration with MOME and Tampere University, bringing together shared research interests in interaction design, sustainability and more-than-human relationships.