The expressiveness of use is of focal interest in fashion design, which makes the perspective of act design important in learning/teaching. The objective of the project presented here was to introduce interaction design methods in fashion design teaching to make act design explicit throughout the different stages of the design process in a systematic manner; to develop a general workshop curriculum in experimental fashion design focusing on the expressiveness of wearing and use. A series of test workshops were implemented to provide a foundation for reflection and critical discussions. The main results, motivated by workshop evaluations, consist of theoretical models for a systematic development of workshop exercises in fashion design aesthetics.

There is a dilemma, we look for solutions to problems we see and we want to bring about change. But the new things we introduce also introduce possible new problems and the prospect of yet another disaster waiting to be discovered later on. Change is potentially dangerous and yet we always strive for development and change. We introduce programs for development and change governed by central programmatic concepts that are there to direct thinking and policy making. “Sustainability” is such a “leitwort” which now is inscribed in our Higher Education Act.What does “sustainability” mean and what does “design for sustainability” mean? How can we train students in designing for sustainability?

Universitetets och högskolans frihet kan hotas på många sätt. Det kan handla om yttre hot i form av krav på politisk anpassning eller i form av krav på anpassad yrkesutbildning. Professionsuniversitet kan ses som själva sinnebilden för sådana yttre hot om man tänker sig att professionen definieras i världen utanför universitetet. Men idén om professionsuniversitetet kan också vara ett starkt försvar för universitetet som fristad för forskning och utbildning om man tänker sig att professioner definieras genom den utbildning som de fria professionslärosätena ger.

Form and expression are basic notions in design aesthetics and design aesthetics education. This is something firmly rooted in architecture, product design, industrial design, fashion design and so forth, but how should we understand these notions in interaction design? There is a need here to fill a gap in the foundations of interaction design. This paper revisits “form” and “expression” to discuss the interpretation of these concepts in the context of interaction design aesthetics. The paper provides a general foundational discussion and considers the implications of relating interaction design to design aesthetics at a fundamental level, rather than to notions from behavioral and social science as is usual in the area of Human Computer Interaction.

As “artistic research” is establishing itself as a field of academic research, a branch of academic research, it is only natural that we ask what it is all about. Not only from the outside trying to understand this “new” member of the academic research family, but also from within the field itself discussing directions, defining new research programs, mapping out sub fields and sorting out ideological matters. Results is clearly a key issue here. What is common here, irrespectively of the artistic subject in question, is that the result comes in the form of suggestions. Methods, techniques and programs are not propositions stating facts, but suggestions about ways, and directions, of working. If that is the characteristics, and nature of result content, what is the bearer, what is it that brings forth the result? In all three cases it makes perfectly sense to think of the bearer in terms of text providing for general presentations, descriptions, explanations and discussions. But what is missing in such a more general presentation is what suggestive and convincing examples bring forth; expressional implications. If it is a performance, an intervention, a painting, a piece of music, a film, a theater play, a building, a text etc that display methods, techniques, programs by example, then it is in the design of the performance, the intervention, the piece of music, the film, the theater play, the building, the text etc that the result, with respect to expressional implications, resides.

Central to models and methodology in industrial design is the idea that we handle a problem in the design process; we solve a problem given in the brief. This does not make sense in fashion design. What is then the basic creative turn in fashion design all about? We suggest replacing “solving a problem” by “introducing a difference” as a central notion for explaining the creative turn in fashion design.We sketch a more precise model of this as a background for a general discussion about how we frame and explain creativity through methods and techniques of systematic artistic work.

Post modernism as a philosophical, ideological foundation of artistic practice lives by contextualizing, relativizing; the ubiquitous context, the wandering eye, this is what it is, but on the other hand also that… What is the context? We must be critical, look ourselves in the mirror of post-modern dogmas and ask questions about the situation that define who we really are, what it is that we actually do. Lived experience is the context that makes thinking and saying meaningful, the context where truth has its roots. We must accept the shaky foundations, watch out and be careful. This is where post modernism turns into a sort of sectarian religion and open up for terror, i.e. a readiness to instil insecurity and fear. What is this as a foundation for artistic practice? If every choice is a possible mistake, creativity turns into something dangerous and art practice will be reduced to a meaningless exercise in, what we can only hope is, righteous thinking. What then is modernism all about and what would it mean to try revisiting these ideas in search for a way out of the contextual prison of post modernism?

With a foundation in artistic practice, the Ambience´11 conference was organised as a meeting place where researchers from digital architecture, smart textiles, new media art and interaction design communities could come together to discuss and share ideas on the new expressional crossroads of art and technology and to take new ideas back to their own communities. As post modernism slowly fades away, a new interest in the expressional possibilities of constructions, techniques and materials, as well as the craftsmanship of artistic work, is becoming more and more visible in artistic practices. It is like revisiting “free” modernistic experimentation not bound by the utopian systems and dogmas targeted by post modernistic critique.

The Ambience’11 conference focuses on the intersections and interfaces between technology, art and design. The first international conference in the Ambience series was held in Tampere, Finland in 2005. In Tampere the basic theme was “Intelligent ambience, including intelligent textiles, smart garments, intelligent home and living environment”. In Borås 2008 it was “Smart Textiles – Technology & Design” in focus and in Borås 2011 it is the new expressional crossroads where art, design, architecture and technology meet.

Interaction Design: Foundations, Experiments is the result of a series of projects, experiments and curricula aimed at investigating the foundations of interaction design in particular and design research in general. The first part of the book - Foundations - deals with foundational theoretical issues in interaction design. An analysis of two categorical mistakes -the empirical and interactive fallacies- forms a background to a discussion of interaction design as act design and of computational technology as material in design. The second part of the book - Experiments - describes a range of design methods, programs and examples that have been used to probe foundational issues through systematic questioning of what is given. Based on experimental design work such as Slow Technology, Abstract Information Displays, Design for Sound Hiders, Zero Expression Fashion, and IT+Textiles, this section also explores how design experiments can play a central role when developing new design theory.

Under våren 2010 genomfördes en serie om fyra seminarier med namnet ”Från Högskolan i Borås till Humboldt: Perspektiv på universitetsidén under 200 år”. Det primära syftet var att diskutera den svenska högskolans roller i en tid präglad av stora förväntningar och motsägelsefulla krav på akademin. Denna rapport utgör en dokumentation av seminarieseriens innehåll. Professor Sven-Eric Liedman skriver med samtidskritisk udd om universitetens historia; professor Mats Benner beskriver och analyserar fyra historiska idealtyper av universitet samt belyser det förändringstryck som högskolesektorn verkar under; professor Kerstin Sahlin riktar intresset mot hur universitet skiljer sig från andra organisationer och ger sin bild av hur detta faktum bör återspegla sig i besluts- och ledningsstrukturer. Seminarieserien och rapporten är ett led i Högskolan i Borås kontinuerligt pågående självreflektion och arbete med frågor som rör professionslärosätets identitet och profil. I rapportens senare del presenteras sex korta reflektioner om och/eller seminarieseriens teman utifrån Högskolan i Borås horisont. Reflektionerna är skrivna av professorer från alla högskolans sex institutioner.