The design akademie berlin, SRH Hochschule für Kommunikation und Design has been a partner of the 3IT, former 3DIC, from the very beginning. Professor Sebastian Denz is a representative of the university and focuses on 3D photography and spatial media. He started to participate in networking events of the 3IT in 2012, where he met other professionals from the economic as well as the science sector. He was able to introduce the 3D research group (3DFG) to them, consisting of teachers and students who are interested in the field of 3D and want to take part in the development and design of 3D content. “The strength of three-dimensional processes is, at the same time, their great weakness. In many of the works I’m familiar with, the medium does actually force its way into the foreground, so that the form displaces the content, reducing the work to a mere ‘3D effect’. We have to think design in spatial dimensions, find a new vocabulary and storytelling.” (Sebastian Denz)
Apart from the university’s collaborations with other partners of the 3IT, Sebastian Denz also integrated the innovation center’s facilities into his 3D photography class – the studio and cinema for example have been used by students numerous times. Resources were joint, new technologies tested and innovations were presented to diversified audiences. In 2015 a new photography bachelor degree studypath (B. A. Fotografie) was established at the design akademie berlin. Its focus lies on visual media including 3D, CGI, 360°, VR and AR. There are a couple of intersections with the 3IT that were incorporated into the concept from the start. In June 2016 the 3IT team came to the design akademie berlin for a visit to introduce themselves to the students of the new studypath and to take a look at the recently refurnished building of the university.
ZWISCHEN RAUM, which translates to “space” or “room in-between” is an experimental installation of the increase of immersion in Virtual Reality. The project is at the same time a very successful bachelor thesis, realized by Adrian Staude and supervised by professor Sebastian Denz and Jörg Frohnmayer. The goal was to develop a prototype that gives a new perspective on immersion through Virtual Reality. One person/viewer is participating in a VR computer game via a head mounted display and a joystick, while another person is using several props at the same time, so that besides sight and touch, other senses of the viewer are involved as well.
ZWISCHEN RAUM was exhibited at the 3IT VR Workshop that took place at Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute in 2016 as well as at Performersion – Days of Performing & Immersive Arts at Kühlhaus, a cooperation of the re:publica 2016, one of the largest and diverse conferences about digital culture in the world. Read more…
PAREIDOLIA is the title of the bachelor thesis written by Mila Albrecht. It is named after the phenomenon that the human brain can recognize faces and objects in patterns, structures and forms. The project was supervised by professor Sebastian Denz and Kirstin Weppner. The former student developed a device she called “Pareidoskop”, which gives the viewer the possibility to see the world upside down, isolated from the environment. This manipulation allows the person using the gadget to discover pareidolia, because the common masks of the human brain are disrupted. Mila Albrecht produced a book with a collection of pictures documenting the discoveries with the “Pareidoskop”. The device has to be used with an iPhone, in some sense a controversial medium that is said to be very engaging, to a point that its users have a restricted perception of their surroundings. In this case, the phone is used to counteract, because the viewer has the chance to perceive his or her environment in a new way with a different perspective.