iCreaTe, an interdisciplinary, creative challenge combining creation and technology, was devised to give students of engineering (Polytech-Université de Nantes), design (École de design Nantes Atlantique) and communication (Audencia SciencesCom) practical experience of collaborating to represent data sets using a variety of digital tools. All the prototypes were showcased at an exhibition at Mediacampus on 6 April 2018.
As the successful candidate in the 2017 call for education projects, iCreaTe received funding from Ouest Industries Créatives to develop new interdisciplinary and inter-institutional educational programmes. Buoyed by its great success, the institutions involved have decided to incorporate the module into their course programmes!
Working in 16 inter-institutional teams, more than 100 students had to learn how to pool their skills to create interactive installations; building on the potential of various technologies and working to an external brief (Nantes Museum of Art, Justori, the Loire Atlantique authorities and Graine d’Europe).
A number of constraints were imposed from the beginning:
- a problem
- a dataset (statistics, archive texts, sensor readings, catalogues, etc)
- an entry point enabling users to manipulate the data (microphone, camera, gyroscope/accelerometer, leap motion)
- an exit point/technological outcome (2-D video projection, 3-D video projection, spatial audio, mobile, tablet, etc)
Students working on the Nantes Museum of Art brief had to use a digital dataset to develop an innovative way for children to discover and interact with the artworks.
Students from Audencia SciencesCom were tasked with implementing a communications strategy to publicise this new project, which included creating a website to follow the various educational stages.
This experiment has received very positive feedback, both from the students who have benefited from a one-of-a-kind collaboration experience and the educational team who plan to repeat the project in 2019.
