Systems Practice

A peer-led workshop series explores how sound, visuals, data, AI, sensing and games can work together as interactive systems. Making, discussion and shared experimentation help participants connect these technologies to their own creative practice.

2026

Creative technology workshop series

Royal College of Art, Information Experience Design (IED)

Student Programme, Term 2, 2026

Developed within the Royal College of Art Student Programme with a focus on Information Experience Design, Systems Practice followed the Term 1 Creative Learning: TouchDesigner Workshop. That earlier programme introduced node-based workflows across eight three-hour sessions for approximately 20 IED students.

The six-session Term 2 series brought approximately 20 participants into a broader exploration of connected technologies. The progression moves from learning how a tool works to considering how inputs, transformations and responses form a system that can be used in a creative project.

Learning through systems

The workshops treat creative technology as material for experimentation. Participants work with relationships between media, changing a signal or a rule and observing how the rest of the system responds.

Hands-on making is accompanied by discussion and peer exchange. A patch, an interface or a small prototype becomes something to test and talk through, helping different approaches meet around a shared experiment.

Curriculum

Six sessions connect audiovisual signals, data, AI, physical sensing and decisions. The curriculum follows the delivered Term 2 programme.

Systems Practice: Curriculum
Session	Subject	Practice	Tools
1	Sound of Vision	Visual-reactive audio	TouchDesigner, VCV Rack
2	Data-Driven Modeling	Procedural modelling and data visualisation	Blender, TouchDesigner
3	AI as an Interactive System	AI API integration	TouchDesigner
4	Writing the Image	GLSL shaders	TouchDesigner
5	Sensing and Responding	Physical computing and computer vision	Arduino, TouchDesigner
6	Games as Decision Systems	Web-based serious game	Cables.gl

Programme documentation

The original programme posters present the invitation, scope and announced schedule as a connected composition. They remain part of the documentation alongside the completed curriculum.

Systems Practice programme introduction.

Structure and schedule of the workshop series.

An invitation to experiment across creative disciplines.

The six-session programme for Systems Practice.

A system becomes a place to think together: connect something, change it, observe a response and share what becomes possible.

Credits

Director: Arrddon (Kiryung Nam)
Co-creation team: Jay, Risaal, Jisu, Yongwoo