IN-PERSON Prague Research & Teaching Conference

Abstract

Today everything is hybrid. We navigate hybrid practices, moving indistinctly from one media to another and inhabiting analogue and digital dimensions simultaneously. In particular, in the twenty-first century all books and narratives are hybrid in every sense. The physical book is now a medium of choice among many others. Narratives can very easily flow from one form to another (analogue or digital) and have acquired a liquid dimension that adapts indistinctly to any kind of surface. Yet this hybridity has also brought forward an interest in the material surface of the book, together with a focus on unconventional narratives that work exclusively within the printed medium but are aware of the digital influence. By analysing the concept of ‘hypertangible narratives’, this presentation aims to show the importance of materiality in a contemporary creative context and its impact on the development of rich and engaging design processes. This is part of a research project that focuses on the possibilities for communication offered by the book as a physical object in the digital era. Through a series of workshops and seminars that challenge the conventions of the book and its materiality, the project seeks to create spaces for creative reflection and experimentation. The purpose is to foreground the importance of tangible and playful exploration as part of a design process, and how working with materiality and embodied creative techniques helps to stimulate students and designers to question established ideas, challenge conventions, and strive to explore the limits of our current design concepts.