9-14 September 2025
Photos By UNIRSM
Translating Pram: Interactive Timelines is a joint workshop developed by the University of the Republic of San Marino and Kalbis University in Jakarta, Indonesia. Its objective is to design an immersive interactive installation built around a digital timeline that narrates the key events in the life and literary production of Indonesian writer and activist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, contextualizing them within the broader historical evolution of Indonesia.
The collaboration began with preliminary work carried out by the Indonesian partners, who developed the visual identity and selected the materials forming the foundation of the timeline content. The workshop in San Marino opened with a presentation of The Fugitive, one of Pramoedya’s works published in Italian by AIEP Editore. This session offered a historical, literary, and political introduction that guided the subsequent design phases and framed the author’s autobiographical and memory-based narrative approach.
The first day focused on mutual introductions: through short presentations, students shared their interests, skills and goals, enabling the formation of interdisciplinary groups that combined expertise in graphic design, interaction design, spatial design, and programming. The teams were assigned distinct yet interconnected domains: programming (developing TouchDesigner patches and interaction algorithms), exhibition design (layout, materials, and spatial prototyping), graphic design (content organization and production of visual materials) and interaction research (public engagement strategies and experiential mood definition).
During the second day, a videoconference allowed the Indonesian students to present their preliminary contributions and symbolically hand over the project to the San Marino team. This was followed by a hands-on TouchDesigner session exploring AI-based tracking of hands, gestures and body movements applied to visual and sound interactions.
As the workshop progressed, the groups integrated visual, spatial, and interactive elements into a unified installation centered on a digital interactive timeline. The resulting environment narrated the key events of Pramoedya’s life and works through a system combining textual materials, animations, thematic viewpoints and micro-interactions. All components were conceived as modular and easily reconfigurable in anticipation of the Translating Pram exhibition scheduled for December 2025 at Palazzo Graziani in San Marino.
The concluding day coincided with the public opening of the University of San Marino’s workshop week (September 2025), during which the installation was tested by about one hundred visitors. This testing phase provided valuable insights into engagement dynamics, supported usability refinements, and validated the effectiveness of translating narrative content into an interactive experience.
The workshop in San Marino was led by designer Andrea Santicchia, with the support of tutor Valentina Ugolini, and involved students from the Bachelor’s Programme in Design and the Master’s Programme in Interaction & Experience Design. Participants included: Asia Arcangeli, Giovanni Conti, Nicolò De Chiara, Daria Ferent, Caterina Fortuzzi, Lucia Grandoni, Kiara Haxhiraj, Matilde Lepri, Anastasia Manenti, Aiperi Myrzabekova, Lucia Morri, Alessia Maria Policala, Alessio Signorotti, Laura Pesenti, Giacomo Zanardi, Filippo Zoja, Miriana Briscese, and Dante Bellucci.
The results were later presented to students and faculty at Kalbis University, further strengthening the academic and design-oriented collaboration between the two institutions and contributing to the broader Translating Pram initiative.
Andrea Santicchia