OrchidsPlayscape
Sean Ahlquist
Millwork Commons
Sponsored by: Omaha Steaks and The Fred and Eve Simon Charitable Foundation
Social Sensory Architecture is an on-going research project designing technology-embedded multi-sensory environments.
The research explores the design of multi-sensory environments that engage children's creativity for fine/gross motor activities in order to facilitate social interaction.
Through the use of advanced textile design, sensing technology, and bespoke software, elaborate textile landscapes are transformed into physically, visually, and sonically interactive environments. The research was spurred initially by Ahlquist’s experiences with his daughter Ara, discovering how environment can play a critical role in helping her to overcome aspects of her autism, including being non-verbal, to express herself as a social and creative individual.
In combining, muting, and magnifying aspects of the sensory experience, individuals with autism may experience a sense of agency, often lacking in the highly structured world that a child with autism is presented with.
At Millwork Commons, guests can interact with OrchidsPlayscape and narrate their own manner of play.
Medium
Interactive textile environments with projection mapping elements.
Artist
Sean Ahlquist, University of Michigan
Sponsored by:
The Fred and Eve Simon Charitable Foundation
Location
Millwork Commons
1111 North 13th Street, 142B
Omaha, NE 68102
Date
March 15 - late summer
