Methodology of research-creation at the Metalab¶
The Metalab is SAT's laboratory of research and development. It is a place where researchers, software developers, interaction designers and industrial designers collaborate to create tools to help artists creating artworks.
The Metalab develops tools for artists in the fields of immersion, telepresence and interactivity. The SAT often invites artists to do residencies in which they are invited to use the tools developed at the SAT[Metalab]. When possible, the lab adjusts the objectives of the generic tools it makes to serve the needs of these artists. The lab's developers can provide support and training, and do generic innovative developement on the lab's tools, but their mandate is not to do the actual project integration for the specific needs of the artist's work.
The SAT's Metalab promotes the use of agile methodologies in its software development. Users and developers meets to discuss short-term objectives and readjust the targets according to what have been achieved in the previous one-month iteration.
For residencies, we should choose artists who would be willing to use the Metalab's tools in their work. This way, it helps us to meet the objectives of our research program. We should avoid project that would require heavy custom development, to help reduce extra costs.