ASH ELIZA SMITH



Artist-Designer Fellowship at Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography For the past
year I have been involved in Artist and Design Research working side by side, scientists, researchers,
data scientists, oceanographer to think about how to communicate understanding and protecting
the planet. I created a video wall of 3 video screens, which is 11
foot wide and about 8-foot hight inside the aquarium to highlight videos and
stories taken in the film. I have also been working with AR and VR
development and forged a partnership with GoPro and worked with their Omni 360 camera.
Sometimes we need to study or work with systems, tools, and design in order
to experiment, destabilize, hack and/or queer. I am trained in critical design,
speculative design, design fiction, design thinking as well as disruptive design. An example of
this disruption in action is during my time as a design research fellow at
Birch Aquarium I argued for a de-centering of the human, in order to better
communicate the effects of climate change. I asked, can we think beyond human-centered
design and perhaps think about ideas such as plankton-centered design or dolphin-centered
design? I worked on answering these questions side-by-side scientists in the Extrasensory
Lab with Jules Jaffe. Here we also developed many applications in VR/AR and
media design. I was also able to procure an Omni360 camera from a partnership
that I created with GoPro. We began doing multiple experiments with the camera that
challenged notions of understanding and protecting the planet.



Video Triptych wall that I designed and installed. Features videos and art from expeditions and more.

Excerpts from 360 footage from Scripps science expedition in Antarctica. Use your mouse
to scroll around in 360.


3D scans of a kelp tank developed for AR and VR applications.
https://asheveryday.com/files/dimgs/thumb_0x225_19_155_430.jpg
Art-Design Research + Production