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Pratt MID

Pratt MID

Anushritha Sunil

I am Anushritha Sunil, a multi-disciplinary designer, based in New York. Whilst my work spans across design contexts of research, interface, and environment design, I am driven towards designing socially responsible and ecologically sustainable systems through a cultural and empathetic lens.

A white background image with a blue object light on the right and grey and color rug tiles placed in random order around the object light
Three young female children dancing in front of a light and interacting with their colorful shadows on the wall

How may we enable children to extend their minds and think using their bodies?

Our culture insists that the brain is the sole locus of thinking, feeling, and caring, an isolated space where cognition happens, much as the workings of my laptop is sealed inside its aluminum case. Beginning in elementary school we are never explicitly taught to think outside the brain; we are not shown how to employ our bodies, spaces, and relationships in the service of intelligent thought. Drawing from my personal experience of being a dancer, where I was trained to use my body to communicate and express my emotions, how can we make the body a knowledgeable decision-maker in the design process of objects, buildings, and cities?

A classroom image with painted yellow walls. Stacked lights projecting colorful lights on to the blackboard and soft grey and color rug tiles on the floor

Momi is an assemblage of performative lights and a sensory movement rug to facilitate embodied learning in learning spaces for children to think and be in tune with their bodies. These tools promote social-emotional wellness, social inclusion, and personal literacy in elementary school classrooms.

Two images,two female young children sitting and interacting with a illuminated blue light object in a dark setting in the left image and a female young child jumping across grey and color rug tiles in the right image

Drawing parallels between performance and learning, Momi brings elements of light, sound and shadow play on to existing classroom surfaces that provide spatial cues for children aged between 6 and 12 years during transitions, to learn using their bodies. These tools assist teachers to teach lessons and promote empathy building collective experiences. The performative light changes color responding to different sounds and the modular rug tiles provide a flexible tactile stage for children to move between classes.

Moving Mind (Momi) : Thinking with our bodies
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Anushritha Sunil

I am Anushritha Sunil, a multi-disciplinary designer, based in New York. Whilst my work spans across design contexts of research, interface, and environment design, I am driven towards designing socially responsible and ecologically sustainable systems through a cultural and empathetic lens.

Three young female children dancing in front of a light and interacting with their colorful shadows on the wall

How may we enable children to extend their minds and think using their bodies?

Our culture insists that the brain is the sole locus of thinking, feeling, and caring, an isolated space where cognition happens, much as the workings of my laptop is sealed inside its aluminum case. Beginning in elementary school we are never explicitly taught to think outside the brain; we are not shown how to employ our bodies, spaces, and relationships in the service of intelligent thought. Drawing from my personal experience of being a dancer, where I was trained to use my body to communicate and express my emotions, how can we make the body a knowledgeable decision-maker in the design process of objects, buildings, and cities?

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