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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Taking a seat in an installation at the University of the Arts (HfK) Bremen and producing energy by doing so—that will become a reality for employees and customers of the HEC GmbH in the middle of November. Starting on November 18 and running for a few days, the Bremen-based IT company will present a project by our master student Boeun Kim that HEC has also supported.
Boeun Kim hails from South Korea and developed “A chair for co-responding” as a student at the programme in Digital Media at the HfK Bremen. The chair bundles the heat of a bottom sitting on it and transforms it into electrical energy through a thermoelectric generator. The power is transferred on to a lamp that irradiates plants and thereby provides them with energy to grow and perform photosynthesis. The oxygen resulting from this process is in turn benefitting the person on the chair: A perfect example of the inventive ways technology can be applied for positive effects in real life.
This quality made the project stand out for HEC: Especially in times like these today it is crucial to create awareness for sustainability and use unconventional solutions to demonstrate how energy efficiency can happen. As a company focussed on digital technology, HEC also is interested in the ways the project touches upon the internet of things. Once you embrace the idea that everything is connected online and that all of the elements there communicate and interact as a network, then one also has to supply the sensors, software and technology of the physical objects and systems with electrical power. If storage batteries, solar panels or generators can not provide the energy, then alternative sources become necessary. Boeun Kim does present a promising and innovative approach for doing just that. HEC is supporting her in this quest.
The company has been founded in 1988 and their cooperation with the Department for Digital Media includes their support of up to two projects, semester or graduating works annually with 1500 Euro each. The company has no influence on the contents or the formal realisation of the projects they support. Only the students themselves get to decide how to best use the grant for their work.
The project funding was initiated in 2013 with the goal of assuring practical applicability on the one and creative inputs on the other side. Dr. Thorsten Haase, executive director of HEC, explains: “It is of crucial importance for us as a company to have our fingers on the pulse of our time. And that is why we are looking beyond the narrow confines of our methodological and technological horizons together with students and young graduates.” Dr. Haase adds: “We demonstrate how the subject matters of digital media specifically can be applied to real projects. By doing so, we try to support students in building their competencies. Our award is food for thought—provocative ideas for our daily work. We also can create publicity and find talent.” The HfK Bremen appreciates HEC as a door opener to the media and ad agencies in our city as potential employers for graduates. This has worked out in the past as some of the awardees went on to become employed at HEC or one of the companies connected to them and some continue to be there today.
The prize winners reflect the spectrum of the Course of Studies Digital Media. The department is dedicated to an highly experimental and unfettered approach to new technologies and scientific work, rooted in design and the liberal arts. According to Peter von Maydell, Professor for Interface Design at the HfK: “Our students can create media arts, but can also develop an app with a focus on practical applicability. This kind of creative freedom has more to offer to the private sector than an education that is only dedicated to technology.” Von Maydell also points out: “Our approach sets us apart and puts us ahead of many others in the realms of culture and aesthetics because in our project development we always have factors such as life cycle assessments, social compatibility and protecting the climate in mind.” The Department presently has 176 students enrolled in Bachelor and Masters programs for Digital Media. 35 freshmen have just joined the Department.
The call for new projects to be supported by HEC in 2023 already has gone out. The people managing the program expect some 20 applications. A jury will pick the winners in cooperation with HEC.
Previous winners of the awards endowed by HEC for projects
HEC launched their support for projects in 2013 and awarded the inaugural price to Melanie Glauz for a navigation system on cell phones that visitors to Bremen could use. The app was further developed by the Team Neusta group of companies that had taken over HEC in 2008.
In 2014 forty students jointly developed performative projects for sounds and spaces at the freight train station entitled “[Selbst]Experimente.”
Also in 2014 Oliver Nölting programmed a web-based calculator for finances and life style-issues that explains and visualises in interactive ways how every German citizen could spend less money and instead accrue savings and therefore retire much earlier than most people are currently doing.
2015: students integrate interactive technologies into furniture and Nuri Ovüc realised 360-degree-videos for VR glasses.
2016 saw Dennis Siegel as a winner. He built sensors and control units to enable autonomous biking. HEC also supported “Die Poesie des Messens” (the poetics of measuring): measuring instruments conceived and built by students who also researched ways to visualise the data produced by their devices. Additionally, the students staged measuring processes.
2017 had two winners. Dennis Hoffmann created a mobile scanner for 3-D objects and spaces, while David Unland made dynamics of social communication visible and audible with audiovisual modules.
In 2018 Lorenz Potthast worked on future screen technologies, while Sharang Sharma developed computers that provided valuable means for educating children.
The projects supported in 2019 could not be finished in 2020 due to Corona.
2020/21 saw an interruption of the awards due to the pandemic.
For 2022 it will be the turn of Kim Boeun with her project to produce energy while sitting down.
Contact Presse:
Hochschule für Künste Bremen
Melisa Berktas
Leiterin Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Email: mberktas@hfk-bremen.de
www.hfk-bremen.de
Producing energy by sitting down: Boeun Kim and her installation “A chair for co-responding.” (© Boe ...
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Producing energy by sitting down: Boeun Kim and her installation “A chair for co-responding.” (© Boe ...
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