Luke Hespanhol
Dr Luke Hespanhol is a Brazilian-Australian lecturer, researcher and artist. His practice investigates the potential of interactive media to create engaging experiences that lead to reflection on the relationship between individuals and the immediate environment around them. He has explored these possibilities of public expression through the development of interactive media installations for academic research, galleries and public art festivals, including multiple editions of Vivid Sydney. Luke holds a PhD from the Design Lab, University of Sydney, researching interactive media architecture and the user-centred design of hybrid urban environments. His research spans a wide spectrum of interactive media applications, from urban media art and generative media to responsive environments, technology-mediated social interactions, digital placemaking, urban informatics, smart cities, digital storytelling and media architecture. Luke is a lecturer in Design and Computation at the University of Sydney, where he is also Lead Designer and Curator for the Footbridge Gallery, a pioneering hybrid public space designed for learning an research on display.
Lectures at UMAA
Digital Placemaking: Media Architecture Biennale
The technical and aesthetic qualities of media architecture enable the design of physical/digital environments that listen to people and change in response to them, setting the grounds for what has become known as digital placemaking. In this talk, Dr Luke Hespanhol will visit topics from the recent Media Architecture Biennale 2016 in Sydney, including how to design hybrid public spaces, the role of public media art, community engagement and how to evaluate successful urban media interventions.
Cities of Electronic Clay: Media Architecture for Malleable Public Spaces
Media architecture turns digital technologies into raw material for the design of new architectural elements, communicating dynamic information, prompting transient sensorial experiences, engaging people and adapting in response to them. Dr Luke Hespanhol will talk about the various ways media architecture can contribute to the dynamic design of engaging public spaces, as well as discuss highlights from his research, point to current trends and showcase recent projects in the field.
Main topics of interest/research
Participatory public art, creative urban technologies, digital placemaking.
Statement
Urban media art stands as a new paradigm in the relationships between the various agents that make a predominantly urbanised world. It finds itself in the converging point of artistic expression, citizen engagement and urban storytelling, articulating the gestalt of the city through dynamic and often participatory digital platforms. In that frame, artworks only exist to the extent they are experienced, adapted or even extended by the general public, resulting in ever-changing conversations expressing collective creativity, sentiments and ideas.
Website
Contact
luke.hespanhol [at] sydney . edu.au
Luke Hespanhol is a designer, researcher and artist working with creative technologies, digital placemaking, participatory public art and urban storytelling.