Bibliography

Here are all sorts of resources (including all the links from the syllabus) for you to peruse and use at your discretion. I’ll continue to add (and you can send me resources as well).

The Affordances of Discomfort

• “Thrilling and Uncomfortable Interactions”, Steve Benford
• “Designing Discomfort”, Steve Benford
• "Ambiguity as a Resource for Design", William Gaver
• "Our sickly-sweet obsession with comfort will end up killing us", Brigid Delaney
• “Why Discomfort is Good for You”, Michael Hyatt
• “Nietzsche on Hardship”, Alain de Botton
• “Nietzsche on Difficulty”, Brainpickings
• “The Merits of Discomfort”, Strategy Road
• “Designing Worth is Worth Designing”, Gilbert Cockton
• "danah boyd on why fake news is so hard to avoid", The Ezra Klein Show
• "Bryan Stevenson explains how it feels to grow up black amidst Confederate monuments", The Ezra Klein Show

Design FOR DISCOMFORT Approaches/THEORY

• Difficult Conversations, Douglas Stone
• Patterns of Transformation, Ida Benedetto
• Patterns of Transformation Q&A threads, Ida Benedetto
• “Uncomfortable Interactions”, Steve Benford et.al
• “Uncomfortable User Experience”, Steve Benford et.al
• Hold It Against Me: Difficulty and Emotion in Contemporary Art, Jennifer Doyle
• “Difficulty, Part 1: Deceptive Forms of Simplicity” and “Part 2: Bad Feelings”, Jennifer Doyle
• “The Limits of Virtual Reality: Debugging the Empathy Machine”, Ainsley Sutherland
• "Come Closer: Confessions of Intimate Spectators in One to One Performance", D. Heddon, et al.
• Dark Writing: Geography, Performance, Design, Paul Carter
• “Twin Peaks and the Sublimity of Awkwardness”, Richard Rosenbaum
• “Gaming for Understanding”, Brenda Romero
• "Now It's Personal: On Abusive Game Design", Douglas Wilson & Miguel Sicart
• "Elizabeth Streb" by A.M. Holmes
• "A Case for Speculative Design", Phil Balagtas
• "Open House: the Evolution of Performance Architecture", Agnieszka Gratza
• “Short Description of a New Technique for Acting”, Bertolt Brecht
• "Notes in the Justification of Putting the Audience through a Difficult Evening", Wallace Shawn
• "Intimacy Across Visceral and Digital Performance" (symposium website)
• Intimacy: Across Visceral and Digital Performance, Maria Chatzichristodoulou
• Art in the 21st Century
  • “Boundaries”, Season 6
  • "Compassion", Season 5
  • "History", Season 6
• The Taxonomy of Thrill & Thrilling Design, Brendan Walker
• “Performing Thrill: Designing telemetry systems and spectator interfaces for amusement rides”, Holger Schnädelbach et.al
• “Breath Control of Amusement Rides”, Joe Marshall et.al
• “Using Fast Interactions to Create Intense Experiences”, Steve Benford & Joe Marshall
• “Framework”, Exertion Interfaces
• “Design Dimensions Cards”, Exertion Interfaces
• “A Framework for Exertion Games”, Floyd Mueller, et.al
• “Extended Body-Interview with Stelarc”, Paolo Atzori and Kirk Woolford
• Theater of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal (in particular “Invisible Theater”)
• Sites of Conscience
• “The Secret Objectives of Queues”, Andy Megowan
• “Presence, Silence, Intimacy, Duration: Lygia Clark’s Relational Objects”, Adrian Anagost
• “How Much Silence is Too Much? I Found Out”, Daniel McDermon
• “The Secret Life of Alex Goldman”, Reply All
• The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim

Safety, Boundaries, Ethics

• "University Student Conduct Policies", NYU
• "University Policies and Guidelines", NYU
• “Foundations of Non-Violent Communication”, Center for NVC
• “Principle: Take Risks, But Take Care”, Beautiful Trouble
• "Happiness and Utility: Jeremy Bentham's Equation", J.H. Burns
• "Critical Incidents: Laura Stark on APA Ethics Policy", Laura Stark
• “Studies in the Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities”, Harold Garfinkel
• “On the ethics of intervention in human psychological research: With special reference to the Stanford prison experiment”, Philip Zimbardo
• "Summary of Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development", Robert Barger
• “Consequentialism” (ethics), BBC
• “Amusement Ride Safety”, International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions
• “The Newest Theme Park Trend is...Safety?”, Elizabeth Alton
• See Difficult Conversations (above)
• See Patterns of Transformation (above)
• See “Using Fast Interactions”, p.9 (above)
• See “Uncomfortable User Experience”, p.7 (above)
• See “Uncomfortable Interactions”, p. 8 (above)

Design FOR DISCOMFORT Examples

Visceral [1] Cultural [2] Intimacy-related [3] Control-related [4]

Speculative Design

• Human Hyena Project, Paul Gong [1]
• "Smog Meringues", Center for Genomic Gastronomy [1]
• The Stupid Shit No One Needs & Terrible Ideas Hackathon [1,2,3,4]
• Follower, Lauren McCarthy [3,4]
• Somebody, Miranda July [1,3,4]
• Transborder Immigrant Tool, b.a.n.g. (bits, atoms, neurons, genes) lab [2,4]
• x.pose, Xeudi Chen [2,3,4]
• Improvised Empathetic Device, Matt Kenyon [1,2]
• Third Hand, Stelarc [1,4]
• Kisses from the Future, Ani Liu [1,2, 3]
• Smile, Please, Winnie Yoe [1,2,4]
• Hair Highway, Studio Swine [1,2]

Installations/Interactives

• The Machine to Be Another, Be Another Labs [1,3,4]
• Mediated Body, Mads Hobye and Jonas Löwgren [1,3,4]
• Intimate Transactions, Transmute Collective [1,3,4]
• Puddle, Matt Kenyon (and other works) [2]
• Plegaria Muda, Doris Salcedo (general info) [1,2]
• One Dark Night, Emblematic Group/Nonny de la Peña [2,3,4]
• Scenes from the Pilgrim Story, Sam Durant [2]
• S.A.C.R.E.D., Ai Weiwei (2013) [2, 4]
• 6x9, The Guardian (2016) [2,3,4]
• Victory Hall, Allison Smith [2, 3]
• PSAD Synthetic Desert III (1971), Doug Wheeler [1,3,4]
• “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in LA), Felix Gonzales-Torres [1,2,3]
• #Fortune, Zach Gage [2,3,4]
• T,E.D. (Transformations, Emotional Destruction), Sean Hathaway and Carlos Severe Marcelin [2,3,4]
• Robot Bodies, Keith Piper [2,3]
• Tripping the Rift and The Glass Mattnagerie, Matt Romein [1,3,4]
• Touching a Cactus, Sarah Rothberg [1,2,4]
• Your Hands are Feet, Amelia Winger-Bearskin & Sarah Rothberg [1,3,4]
• Reanimation! Underwater Zombie Frog Ballet!, Lu Yang [1,4]

Objects

• Animatronic Flesh Shoe, Adam Brandjes [1,2]
• The Meatbook, Aaron Levisohn et.al [1,2]
• Empathy Belly [1,3,4]
• Drunk Goggles, Fatal Vision [1,4]
• Stranger Visions, Heather Dewey-Hagborg [1,2,3]

Performance

• Domestic Tension, Waafa Bilal [2,3,4]
• The Fever, and other plays by Wallace Shawn [2,3,4]
• Ulrike and Eamon Compliant, and other work by Blast Theory [2,3,4]
• Baba Antropofágica, Lygia Clark [1,3,4]
• I Like America and America Likes Me, Joseph Beuys [1,2,3,4]
• The Artist is Present, Marina Abramović (additional works here) [1,3,4]
• 436, Alexandre D’Angeli [1,2,3,4]
• Give Me Your Blood and I Will Give You Freedom, Nikhil Chopra [1,2,3,4]
• Mattress Performance (Carry that Weight), Emma Sulkowicz [1,2,3]
• Mapa/Corpo: Interactive Rituals for the New Millennium, La Pocha Nostra (explicit video here) [1,2,3,4]
• The Delusion of Self Immolation, Erik Hobijn [1,2]
• Bhopal Hoax, The YES Men (2004) [2,4]
• One-Minute Sculptures, Erwin Wurm [1,3]
• Take a Picture with a Real Indian, James Luna [2,3]
• Artifact Piece, James Luna [2, 3]
• The work of Shambuyi Wetu [2,3]
• Held, Adrian Howells (other info here) [1,3,4]
• Telematic Dreaming, Paul Sermon [1,3,4]
• Acting Stranger, Andrew Schneider [1,3,4]
• Untitled (Project for Pier 17), Vito Acconci [1,3,4]
• Evidence Locker, Jill Magid [2,3,4]
• In Orbit, Ward Shelly & Alex Schweder [1,3,4]
• Four Scenes from a Harsh Life, Ron Athey (explicit video here) [1,2,3,4]

Games

• Train, Brenda Romero [2,4]
• Life as a Blackman, Chuck Sawyer (additional reading here and here) [2,4]
• 1979 Revolution, iNK Studios [2,4]
• The Walking Dead, Telltale Games [2,4]
• Dead of Winter, Plaid Hat Games [2,4]
• Uncle Roy All Around You, Blast Theory [2,3,4]
• Dark Room Sex Game, Copenhagen Game Collective [1,2,3,4]
• Blowtooth, Lincoln Social Computer Research Center [3,4]
• Facade, Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern [3]
• Games for Actors and Non-Actors, Augusto Boal [1,2,3,4]
• "Theory of the Dérive", Guy Debord [1,4]

Services/Apps/Products

• Lumo Lift [1,4]
• MotivAider [1,4]
• Tech Tools Flying Alarm Clock (there’s a whole genre of these) [1,4]
• Pavlok [1,4]
• Lift Floats (sensory deprivation) [1,3,4]
• Electric Shock Games [1,4]

Rides

• Breathless, Brendan Walker/Aerial [1,2,3,4]
• VR Playground/Oscillate, Thrill Laboratory [1,4]
• Bronco-matic!, Thrill Laboratory [1,4]
• Oblivion, Werner Stengel [1,4]
• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Universal Studios (compare to Stelarc’s Propel) [1,4]

Athletics

• Exertion Games, Exertion Interfaces [1,3,4]
• Tough Mudder [1,4]
• I Seek the Nerves Under Your Skin, Steve Benford [1,2,4]
• "The Worlds Most Terrifying Bungee Jumps" [1,4]

Memorials & Museums

• National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Michael Arad and Peter Walker [1,2,3]
• National Memorial for Peace and Justice [1,2,3,4]
• Kigali Genocide Memorial (Rwanda) [1,2,3]
• National Museum of African American History and Culture [1,2,3]
• Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum [1,2,3]
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Maya Lin [1,2]
• Freedom Park, Thinc Design [1,2]
• Imperial War Museum North, Daniel Libeskind [1,2,3]
• Australian War Memorial [1,2]
• "Runde Ecke" Memorial Museum [1,2,3,4]
• Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate, ESI Design [2,3,4]
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Ralph Applebaum Associates [2,3,4]
• The Hart Island Project, Melinda Hunt [2,3,4]
• Disgusting Food Museum [1,2]
• Data Crematorium, Ji Won Jun [3,4]

Therapy & Wellness

• “Virtual Reality Therapy”, Alex Senson (Exposure Therapy) [1,3,4]
• Bikram Yoga [1,4]
• Aversion Therapy/Emetic Drugs [1,4]

Unsuccessful Designs?

Installations/Interactives

• Real Violence, Jordan Wolfson
• Scaffold, Sam Durant

Painting, Sculpture, Etc.

• Open Casket, Dana Schutz

Games

• Sims 3 slavery mod
• Slavery: The Game viral marketing campaign
• Playing History 2 - The Slave Trade (the mistakes are plentiful)

fOUR FORMS OF DISCOMFORT

Control

• "The myth of self control", Brian Resnick
• “Behavioral Study of Obedience”, Stanley Milgram
• "Obedience" (documentary), Stanley Milgram

Visceral

• Powers of Horror: an essay on abjection, Julia Kristeva
• "Science Made this Chamber Silent, What Makes it Terrifying is your Mind", Clinton Nguyen

Intimacy

• "Intimacy: A Special Issue", Lauren Berlant

Cultural

• Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag
• Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex", Judith Butler
• "Bryan Stevenson explains how it feels to grow up black among confederate monuments", The Ezra Klein Show
• "The Violence of the Whitney Biennial", Hrag Vartanian
• "Murder in VR should be illegal", Angela Buckingham

Design Foundations

• The Art of Interactive Design, Chris Crawford
• Crash Course in Design Thinking, Stanford University
• Moderating Usability Tests: Principles & Practices for Interacting, Joe Dumas and Beth Loring
• The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman
• Designing the User Interface, Ben Schneiderman
• Designing Interfaces in Public Settings, Stuart Reeves
• "Designing the Audience Journey through Repeated Experiences", Steve Benford
• "The Uncanny Valley of User Interface", Coding Horror
• "Staying Open to Interpretation" Phoebe Sengers, Bill Gaver
• Personal Space; the Behavioral Basis of Design, Robert Sommer
• “Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design”, Ben Schneiderman
• Sketching user experiences: Getting the design right and the right design, Bill Buxton
• Designerly ways of knowing, Nigel Cross
• Relational Aesthetics, Nicolas Bourriaud (more here)
• Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature, Alva Nöe
• Speculative Everything, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
• Empowering Design, Joe Edelman
• Finding flow: the psychology of engagement with everyday life, Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi
• "Mediated Social Touch" (in Virtual Reality), Antal Haans and Wijnand IJsselsteijn
• “Matrix Diagram”, Stuart Burge
• “Dramatic Structure” (Wikipedia)
• “Designing Intimate Experiences”, Sidney Fels