Computer is a Feeling is an ongoing research project by Polina Lobanova, exploring computing as an intimate, poetic practice.
It investigates how digital and physical interfaces shape our relationships with technology—not just as tools, but as spaces for reflection, conversation, and shared knowledge.
The project draws from personal experiences, speculative design, and digital archives to rethink computing as something personal and communal rather than purely functional.
As part of this research, Polina develops small-scale computing prototypes, workshops, and speculative interfaces that experiment with alternative ways of structuring, storing, and interacting with digital material.
This site serves as a documentation space—bringing together projects, workshops, writings, and resources that contribute to the broader exploration of how computers can feel, rather than just function.
More about Polina’s work can be found here.
| Computer is a Feeling 2024 |
self-build computer, Aluminum Case, Wooden Plate | Explores emotional experiences with devices, questioning how technology can be more personal. | |
| DEWISE FR-ND 2021 |
Multiple Choice Game, Aluminum Case | Simulating interactions with a personal assistant, examining trust and decision-making. | |
| Pocket Stones 2022 |
Vending Machine, 196 Unique Stones | Investigating randomness and meaning through interactive object distribution. | |
| Ordinary Object 2020 |
Aluminum Plate, UV-print on Acrylic, Stone | Exploring the relationship between physical materials and their digital representations. |
| (Non-)User Events 2024 |
Web Interface | collaged interface that navigates personal internet experiences by quoting and close-knitting HTML elements from Polina’s browsing history. |
| T-Shirt Letters 2025 |
Plotting, Wearable Messages | Transforming personal messages into wearable statements through text plotting. | |
| Fruit.html 2024 |
HTML, Poetic Writing | Learning HTML through poetic writing and the metaphor of fruit structures. | |
| Margins of the Web 2024 |
Source Code, Comments, Margins | Exploring the web’s invisible margins—commenting, annotating, and embedding meaning in source code. | |
| Should We Talk About Buttons? 2023 |
Interactive Design | Designing buttons as visual and interactive elements beyond functionality. |
| Words on Margins 2024-present |
Source Code, Hidden Messages | Exploring source code as a space for hidden messages and marginalia, in collaboration with Kim Kleinert. | |
| Poetic Web: Unfolding Spiral 2024 |
Bachelor's Thesis | Investigating poetic structures in web design and digital spaces. |
| Website-Related | Site Practice | Exploring website-making as a creative practice. | |
| Cloudy Web | Clouds and sky as reappearing backgrounds, metaphors, and references on the web. | ||
| Source Code Marginalia | Sites with easter eggs & hidden messages, part of the Words on Margins project. | ||
| Hypertext Writing | Exploring nonlinear writing structures and linked text. | ||
| Computer-Related | Touch Some Buttons | A collection of interactive buttons and their tactile qualities. | |
| Do You Dream of Computers? | Speculative thinking about computers as dream objects. | ||
| Computer Poem | A poetic exploration of computing and its metaphors. | ||
| Do You Dream of Interfaces? | Exploring the emotional and sensory aspects of digital interfaces. |
| Inspiration | Color & Structure | The colored squares were inspired by Elliott Cost’s Word-Sized Color and his Memory site. |