Imitation, Iteration and Improvisation: Human-Machine Making - An Embodied Interaction in Making and Learning

Making is a situated action, always in flux, and cannot be pre-planned even with digital fabrication machines that aim to impose form on material. In this paper, I introduce a new embodied making and learning process as a remedy for the current separation between design and building. I call it I3: that is, the process of Imitation, Iteration and Improvisation. This learning process depends on situated embodied interaction between the maker, the object in the making and the machines. This research introduces an embodied human-machine making, in which the process itself is more important than the final product. I argue that, with I3, learners build their sensory experience and are able to create on their own with judgment and dexterity.

What is meant by “imitation” is copying the making process of an object, which involves all the body movements -- just as in learning a craft, learners follow their master’s movements. “Iteration” is making different copies from the object itself; “improvisation” is creating something or altering while copying it instead of following pre-determined instructions. This allows learners to evaluate or judge the outcome at every stage in the making process, to change it, and to see new things every time.