Tiago Martins (1981, Lisbon) may best be described as an interdisciplinary creative technologist. After graduating in Computer Science and Engineering at the New University of Lisbon (PT) Tiago became a researcher for the institution's Interactive Multimedia Group. Shortly after, he moved to Linz (AT) to pursue a PhD at Interface Cultures, University of Arts and Industrial Design. Developing his practice-based research, Tiago also became a guest lecturer in programming, physical computing, and play theory.
He is currently based in Berlin, where he has worked as researcher, software engineer and creative technologist developing tangible and wearable interfaces and socially-connected experiences. His skills and sensibilities bring together different fields to produce unique outcomes, resulting in a body of work which includes original concepts, artistic collaborations, academic research and creative approaches to technology in professional contexts.
"As a kid, I was fascinated with technology and how machines worked, but I also always loved to draw and make stuff. While I devoted countless hours to the highly interactive worlds of computer games, I also experimented with drawing programs and all kinds of creative software – which were still very basic back then.
Unsurprisingly, it came to be that I work in the fields of creativity and innovation using digital technologies. And that I became so connected to Trbovlje and many of its young creatives through the yearly Speculum Artium festival, from its very first year.
The RUK residency program was an excellent opportunity to renew this connection, and also get to know some of the major innovators at the Katapult accelerator in Trbovlje, who develop world-class products and services.
I was happy to lend my game design sensibilities to Chipolo, who makes smart-tags to help you keep track of your belongings. I devised realistic use-case scenarios where Chipolo tags become creative tools to develop and play games, using real physical locations and practical objects. Traditional games remixed with new technologies – imagine that. Even grandma could play!
But it was hard to focus on one task while being a RUK resident; I have to say. Their ongoing projects, which I've come to experience firsthand, combine some of the latest in different fields – mixed reality, robotics, and brain-computer interfaces.
They illustrate how the newest technologies can be approached with a creative and open mindset to realize new forms of agency and perception: new ways to discover and understand the world, ourselves and one another, and all the wonders of being human.
Such philosophical topics can then be further developed while one admires a lovely natural landscape walking a mountain trail and spectacular views, in the company of good friends.«
Webpage: https://cargocollective.com/tiagomartins
DDTlab international residency: collaboration of creatives and artists with the economy
In March, we hosted dr. Tiago Martins, an artist and technologist, who completed his residency at the Chipolo company in Trbovlje, Slovenia. In spite of the coronavirus, we managed to carry out our residency program successfully.
Together with his mentor Jure Zdovc, who is a co-founder and technical director of Chipolo, dr. Tiago Martins created playful and useful concepts for Chipolo products during the time of his residency stay. Chipolo products basically perform the task of smart object tracing; they trace objects we might have lost (e.g. phones, wallets, keys).
The added value of dr. Tiago Martins' work is the process of gamification, which introduces principles of play into the idea of lost object tracking. This means that he added content to the object's traceability, and developed possible usage concepts, which rely on elements of play. His first conceptions under the working title Come out and play, contained three concepts: the Chipper mobile game, which draws on Pokemón Go and deals with virtual domestic pets and role-playing. Eight days is a promotional game, the goal of which is to activate an existing community of users, reach new users, and generate an awareness about Chipolo in a fun and playful way. The third concept is called the Untitled location game, and was dubbed the "bonus round" concept by dr. Tiago Martins. It deals with the re-contextualization of playing in the sense of developing a playful attitude, and also with the possibility of users creating their own games.
The ultimate objective of the residency program which dr. Martins, together with Chipolo, is going to realize in the future, is a product called the Chipolo Family Play Kit.
