festival engagement entoptic AI

Entoptic Field Monitor and Shape of Trust at the V&A

Showing our work at the V&A Museum as part of the Ethical Dilemma Cafe at London Design Festival

Dr Jesse Josua Benjamin 07 Oct 2022

Entoptic Field Monitor and Shape of Trust at the V&A

We exhibited two Design Research projects at the Digital Design Weekender Ethical Dilemma Cafe, a special event of the London Design Festival at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Entoptic Field Monitor

The Entoptic Field Monitor is our latest prototype designed using the ‘entoptic’ metaphor (read more here). It is a ‘post-GDPR’ surveillance application which renders AI-based approximations of a camera feed. In the context of the use of AI technologies in smartphone photography specifically, and the ways in which such technologies shape human world(s) generally, the Entoptic Field Monitor raises questions around privacy, representation and acceptability.

Seeing what the Entoptic Field Monitor sees. (c) Hydar Dewachi Photograph by Hydar Dewachi

The Shapes of Trust

From our Trust me? (I’m an autonomous machine) project (sponsored by the TAS hub), we also showcased the research and engagement tool The Shape of Trust. This project builds on the concept of ‘Trust as a Distributed Concern’ and provides a tool that allows participants to create a shape unique to them in response to design fictions featuring a ride in an autonomous driving taxi. At the Digital Design Weekend, visitors could furthermore follow the project rationale and process through our project video.

Developing a unique shape of trust. (c) Hydar Dewachi Photograph by Hydar Dewachi

Written by

Dr Jesse Josua Benjamin

Jesse was a Research Associate on the project, working around generative AI. He draws upon design training, and integrates design research with philosophical analyses to unfold phenomena associated with emerging technologies; such as sense-making practices, design affordances, and how in particular technologies transform the appearance of the world and the things and people in it. He left the project in 2024 to become an Assistant Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology.