Livia Foldes (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based cultural worker exploring the latent space between art, design, technology and activism. Her work asks how and why machines are taught to understand and misunderstand our bodies and the identities they carry and explores the radical potential simmering in the gaps. She writes, holds workshops and events, makes software and websites, and uses emerging tools to make images. As the co-founder and creative director of Decoding Stigma, a collective calling for the inclusion of sex worker voices in all spaces that purport to be designing our future, she brings grassroots research and radical theory to accessible platforms through playful, subversive imagery.
She teaches about AI, typography and extended reality at RISD and holds an MFA in design and technology from Parsons School of Design. Her work is held in Rhizome’s permanent collection, and she has spoken in spaces including Princeton, Gray Area and the Prelinger Library.
Courses
Fall 2023 Courses
GRAPH 2322-01 - EXPERIMENTAL TYPOGRAPHY FOR EXTENDED REALITIES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitGraphic Design
Subject Graphic Design
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
GRAPH 2322-01
EXPERIMENTAL TYPOGRAPHY FOR EXTENDED REALITIES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitGraphic Design
Subject Graphic Design
PeriodFall 2023
Credits3
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: M | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PMInstructor(s): Livia FoldesLocation(s): Design Center, Room 404Enrolled / Capacity: 14Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As our interfaces expand beyond their familiar boundaries, what new conceptual and expressive opportunities will emerge for written communication? Visions for “extended realities” are too often defined and constrained by big tech, with typography relegated to “clean” interfaces and chat boxes. This hands-on studio course imagines alternatives by exploring the affordances (and unruly glitches) of digital type beyond the rectangle. Combining interaction, motion, and experimental typography, we will play with type in emerging media contexts, from the cutting edge of variable web fonts to augmented and virtual realities. Over the course of workshops and larger projects, we will draw on diverse sources—including sci-fi, avant garde art and design histories, and critical texts—to develop strategies for merging type, tech, and language in new ways. Basic familiarity with HTML and CSS is recommended, but not required.
Open to Junior, Senior or Graduate Graphic Design Students.
Elective
Spring 2024 Courses
CTC 2053-01 - EXPERIMENTS IN EXTENDED REALITIES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitExperimental and Foundation Studies
Subject Computation,Technology, and Culture
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
CTC 2053-01
EXPERIMENTS IN EXTENDED REALITIES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitExperimental and Foundation Studies
Subject Computation,Technology, and Culture
PeriodSpring 2024
Credits3
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: M | 8:00 AM - 1:00 PMInstructor(s): Livia FoldesLocation(s): College Building, Room 301Enrolled / Capacity: 15Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As our interfaces expand beyond their familiar boundaries, what new conceptual and expressive opportunities will emerge for communication? Visions for “extended realities” (and the shared futures they accompany) are too often defined and constrained by big tech. This hands-on studio course imagines alternatives by exploring, critiquing, deconstructing, and building within a range of augmented and virtual reality tools and platforms. Looking far beyond traditional XR lineages — which skew heavily institutional, Western, white, and male — we will actively work to broaden and upend existing narratives about XR’s uses, audiences, and possibilities.
Over the course of workshops, discussions, and larger projects, we will draw on diverse sources — including sci-fi, avant garde art and design histories, and critical texts — to develop strategies for combining interaction, motion, and worldbuilding in emerging media contexts. The course will cover topics including:
AR, public space, surveillance, and collective ownership
VR, immersion, and intimacy
Interaction, performance, and platform politics
The roles of speculative fiction, pop culture, and cultural imaginaries in technological development
Workshops will focus on low- or no-code tools, but resources and alternatives will be made available for students with existing coding practices.
