MDes Open Project: Perception as Agency

This Open Project investigates how emergent technologies manipulate perception and explores their capacity to influence societal and environmental systems. The class challenges students to rethink perception not as passive observation but as an active, malleable process that can shape behavior, culture, and ecological relationships.

Leveraging emergent technologies that blur the lines between real and synthetic, students will interrogate how “hacked” perceptions can reveal unseen societal dynamics and drive positive change.

Through context-specific projects, they will probe questions such as:
• How do synthetic realities shape collective action on environmental issues?
• What role can the altering of perception play in promoting inclusivity or equity in urban environments?
• How can immersive technologies foster deeper ecological awareness?

Outcomes will be in the form of immersive installations, AI-driven responsive systems, environmental simulations, or critical interventions addressing perceptual frameworks. Students will work collaboratively to create hybrid media explorations that reframe the intersection of humans, their environments, and their evolving senses of reality.