‘The tacit and embodied knowledge of practitioners about the complex reality of design can provide an important resource to innovate how we learn and teach’
Sarah Lugthart developed ethnographic methods to study immersive XR experiences and explored storytelling as a joint future-creation tool at CARADT. As a PhD candidate at the University of Porto, she blends theory and practice in immersive learning, contributing significantly to digital media and education.
As a PhD candidate at the University of Porto, Sarah Lugthart blends theory and practice in immersive learning, contributing significantly to digital media and education. Sarah Lugthart is currently in the second year of her PhD in the Digital Media program at FEUP, supervised by professors Heitor Alvelos and Michel van Dartel. Her research focuses on expanding our understanding of the community of practice of performative mixed reality (PMR) and the tacit knowledge present within that community from a post-cognitivist perspective. By acknowledging embodied and materially engaging knowing, the research ultimately aims to contribute to advancing art & design education by connecting to the community of practice of PMR.
Sarah Lugthart has been a researcher within the research group Situated Art, Design and Technology until 2024. She focuses on situated learning and is interested in applying expanded ethnographic methods to researching the creative practice of immersive XR experiences. She has been involved as a researcher with the New Canterbury Tales, a project focusing on immersive storytelling as a design method for joint future creation (https://newcanterburytales.com/
). She is a theory tutor at the Master Animation program at the Master Institute of Visual Cultures (MIVC). Alongside her work at the academy Sarah is a committee member of Immerse\Interact (Dutch Film Fund). She lives in Antwerp and Porto.
Situated Learning & Immersive Storytelling in the Lab (2016 – 2024)
What happens when immersive storytelling projects are developed in the context of a lab? How do students deal with the complexities brought about by the context of a lab? How might working in a lab influence the creative outcomes in storytelling? Are theses outcomes, for example, more immersive or innovative, more grounded in a scientific reality or socially relevant?
Publications
Kramer, N., Lugthart, S. (2024, Oct) New Canterbury Tales 2071. Exhibition at Stedelijk Museum Breda. A collaboration between CARADT and Centre of Safe & Resilient Society, Avans University of Applied Sciences.
Kramer, N., Lugthart, S. (2024, July) Creative Methods in STS: Innovative Perspectives for Citizen Inclusion and Engagement. Panel session at EASST4S 2024 ‘Making and Doing Transformations’, Amsterdam
Lugthart, S. & van Dartel, M. (in press) Designing Situated Learning Environments for Media Design Education: A Case Study, in AIGA DEC, & Zahabi, L. (Ed.), SHIFT.
Lugthart, S. & van Dartel, M. (2021) Simulating Professional Practice in STEAM Education: A Case Study, European Journal of STEM Education, 6(1), 17.
Lugthart, S. & van Dartel, M. (submitted) Designing Situated Learning Environments for Media Design Education: A case study.
Lugthart, S. & van Dartel, M. (2019). Teaching Situated Actions: A case study. In: M. Carmo (ed.) International Conference on Education and New Developments (END 2019) Volume I. InScience Press: Portugal, pp. 202-206.
Lugthart, S., van Dartel, M., Quispel, A. (2017), Plans versus Situated Actions in Immersive Storytelling Practices, In N. Nunes, I. Oakley, and V. Nisi, (Eds.) Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) 10690: Interactive Storytelling (pp. 38-45). Springer: Berlin.
Research Group: Situated Art, Design and Technology
The research group Situated Art, Design and Technology (SADT) focuses on the societal embedding and embodiment of knowledge production that art and design research enables. The conducted research contributes to a deeper understanding of technological developments and their impact on people, society, and the environment, and to the development of situated approaches in the creative sector and beyond. In doing so, it advances a wider acknowledgement of artistic and design research as a mode of knowledge production, one that is grounded in creativity and critical imagination as a way of generating insight into, and intervening in, societal transitions driven by technology.
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‘People are the product of their relationships with their environment. It’s important to understand how technological developments influence these relationships.’
Michel van Dartel 
‘‘Understanding how creativity and imagination emerge from interactions with our environment will lead to improved innovation processes, tools and technologies.’’
Alwin de Rooij
‘My practice explores how technology participates in relational embodied systems - how bodies, sensors, and materials co-compose stories of attention and response.’
Mark Meeuwenoord
‘Beauty lies in connecting different parties and creating equal opportunities. I believe in the power of kinship, collectiveness and critical thinking. ’
Eva van den Boogaard
‘My practice is situated in between different actors, in this shape-shifting middle many things can happen.’
Tara Karpinski
‘Imagination is the key to a strong inclusive society. Artistic work and situated design can contribute to a better understanding of the other.’
Jenny van den Broeke
‘Investigating the potential of sensory augmentation to bridge the sensory gap between deaf and hearing.’
Michel Witter
‘Through an interplay of design and research, the apt questions and necessary tools can be discovered and applied to each research project.’
Antal Ruhl
‘Humans are atmospheric beings, particles, dust, in intimate cycles of exchange, actors with an incredible force.’
Annemarie Piscaer
‘Could experimental sensory translation of art works improve their accessibility for sensory diverse exhibition audiences?’
Eva Fotiadi
‘How can the notion of the ‘script’ be used in a situated design practice? ’
Ollie Palmer
‘The ultimate goal is to provide people with the information, skills and tools that enable them to improve the quality of their daily lives.’
Simone van den Broek
‘For me, the iterative design-research process is an exciting journey towards designs that can transform human consciousness.’
Danielle Roberts
‘The essence of the situated, cinematic experience of dance lies in the mental interaction where the public becomes co-author.’
Noud Heerkens
‘Who benefits?’
Ivo Koolen
‘Getting comfortable with ambiguity enables designers to absorb feedback and use it to make better design choices.’
Gabri Heinrichs
‘I look at the ways in which citizens can play an active role in shaping their cities, and how new media and technology can contribute to this.’
Barbara Asselbergs
‘Power, control and chance play an important role in every creative process. I explore this complicated correlation.’
Michiel van Opstal
‘Attention during interaction is personal, not a given fact.’
Misha Croes