Two Publications on Airing: the role of Materials within a Situated Design Approach, Presented at ASLE and IASDR 2025

In 2025, two papers by Annemarie Piscaer, Kristof Vrancken (KU Leuven), Sandy Claes (KU Leuven), and Michel van Dartel were selected for presentation at the IASDR Conference (in December 2025) and the Collective Atmospheres: ASLE Conference (in July 2025). Both contributions explore airing as a framework that uses materiality within a situated design approach —an approach rooted in Piscaer’s design practice, in which she addresses air pollution and makes the invisible air tangible.

IASDR Conference 2025

Publication: Airing Data through Materiality: A Situated Design Approach to Data Physicalization (presented on December 2025, Awarded Best Paper in Co-creation)

This long paper addresses air pollution as a data-intensive issue that is both largely invisible and abstract, presenting considerable challenges for public engagement. The authors argue that designers can contribute by transforming abstract data into tangible, context-sensitive artefacts, a practice known as data physicalization.

Introducing airing as a design approach, the paper proposes a shift from detached forms of representation (such as abstract tables and numbers) to situated, real-world engagement with data. Airing data through materiality emphasizes the active role of materials in embedding data within the physical and social contexts from which it emerges. In this paper, airing data through materiality is discussed in the following case studies (pictures below): Dots & Smogware

Dots visualizes the invisible matter of air pollution by literally showing the measurement material of the RIVM. By comparing different locations and times it gives a visual insight of the air.

In Smogware, the colour and texture of the glaze of the ceramic is determined by the amount of particulate matter it contains, serving as a visible and tangible indication of the air pollution in any specific place.

Using a research-through-design methodology, the study draws on these case studies (Dots & Smogware) and reflexive analysis, comparing these with existing research and relevant literature. It examines how design decisions – particularly those concerning materiality – inform and shape approaches to situated data physicalization. The paper contributes to the growing discourse on data physicalization by offering practice-based insights into how design can help reconnect data with the lived realities it seeks to represent.

More about: IASDR 2025

Collective Atmospheres: ASLE Conference 2025

Publication: Airing Bodies: Materializing Air Pollution, Learning through Material (presented on 18 July)

This paper unpacks the concept of the airing body, examining airing as both the sharing of insights and exposure to public view. The paper unpacks the concept of the airing body by drawing on Material Engagement Theory (Malafouris, 2013) and notions of situated and embodied knowledge (Haraway, 1988; Allen, 2020; Ingold, 2020; Verlie, 2022).

These theoretical perspectives are explored and visualized through Piscaer’s design practice — including Lux(ury) of Air and Smogware, a project that functions as a communicative instrument for airing about air pollution. The authors examine which insights are aired, with which publics, and through which –material– bodies, emphasizing situated and embodied engagement through material.

More about: ASLE 2025 Conference

Terroir: Engaging Through Material with the Wild

‘Terroir: Mapping Data Through Material in the Wild’ is a research project led by Annemarie Piscaer. It explores how environmental factors influence materials and their narratives, using the concept of terroir. The project aims to develop new pedagogical principles around material mapping, integrating these insights into the curriculum at St. Joost School of Art & Design. Activities include expert meetings, workshops, and the development of a new minor, ‘Material Ecologies,’ in collaboration with the Urban Living Lab Breda.

‘Humans are atmospheric beings, particles, dust, in intimate cycles of exchange, actors with an incredible force.’

‘We need to become attuned actors with a deeper understanding of all the other particles.’

Annemarie Piscaer is a researcher in the Situated Art, Design and Technology research group, tutor on the New Design & Attitudes study programme at St. Joost School of Art & Design, and PhD candidate in the Doctoral Program at KU Leuven.

Annemarie Piscaer

‘People are the product of their relationships with their environment. It’s important to understand how technological developments influence these relationships.’

Michel van Dartel is Research Professor Situated Art, Design and Technology at the Avans Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology (CARADT) and was affiliated with V2_Lab for the Unstable Media between 2005-2024. He holds an MSc in cognitive psychology and a PhD in artificial intelligence.

Michel van Dartel

Research Group: Situated Art, Design and Technology

Living in cities developed around data and acting within the inscrutable structure of our techno-society demands art and design that can help understand how we relate to these rapidly changing surroundings and to reflect on that relationship. The research group Situated Art, Design and Technology responds to this exigency by fostering a situated turn in art and design through a diverse portfolio of interdisciplinary research projects in partnership with academic and cultural partners, as well as with government and industry.

Caradt

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