About Theatre of Vibrations

Course Developed by:
Alex Braidwood, Associate Professor of Graphic Design
Vyankatesh (Vee) Chinchalkar, Assistant Teaching Professor of Industrial Design
Dr. Peter Walker, AK Studio Founding Artist
Sam Johnson, Creative Production Advisor

Course Description

Theatre of Vibrations is a process-focused studio emphasizing creative production methodologies, interdisciplinary team work, community engagement, and the public presentation of experimental immersive art and design activations.

Students will learn production methods focusing on cross-disciplinary collaboration while exploring new and oblique approaches to producing work. Throughout this course, students have opportunities to engage with members of an Iowa community during a process that results in the creation of interactive audio-visual art engagements.

By setting out to activate a space in a way that engages a community, new forms and value for the creation of work are explored during this studio. The location of the final installation of these interactive works as an immersive experience is a vacant theater on Main Street in Ottumwa, IA.

Part of making work like this is embracing the unknown at various stages of the creative process and using those opportunities to learn new things in the pursuit of making new work.

Funding Support

The following College of Design, Institute for Design Research and Outreach (IDRO) Internal Grant Awards have supported this initiative:

Fieldstead & Co. Endowment for Community Enhancement Fund
Curriculum-based Design Outreach Fund
Foutch Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund

Learning Outcomes

Work collaboratively with an interdisciplinary group that includes art professionals, researchers, and designers.

Develop a publicly accessible interactive work that visually and sonically engages an underused space in collaboration with an Iowa community.

Explore the development of new, experiential knowledge through engaging with new creative processes.