The project called PATCH OF SKY excited me. It is a a set of three Internet connected ambient lights, enabling users to share the sky above them in real-time with loved ones, wherever they are. Each object gathers weather information based on users’ current Facebook location and displays it with colored light animations. Patch of Sky could be a silent companion, that will tell users about the sky and world they are living in, while away.
Takashi Aoki’s installation Bloom Skin is a computer-controlled kinetic installation for the window display of ELTTOB TEP ISSEY MIYAKE. The installation took place for promotion of their newly adopted fabric called Organdie, a super light and thin cloth. A custom software in openFrameworks to control the wind movement with multiple fans via DMX protocol. The work is a simulation of a natural form, one that is fluid and smooth. This in a way shatters the fact that the flow is controlled by a computer program.
Probes; SKIN dresses (2006) by PhilipsDesign
Materials: Polyester, Non-woven, Fabric, LED Projectors, Glass Fiber Rods, and Biometric Sensors.
This is an interactive wearable garment, which is drawn by human’s heart rate and respiration. The dress expresses various colors and shapes according to individual emotions.
It has two layers: the inner layer contains biometric sensors and the second layer displays a person’s emotions.
Jessica Hartwig
Being and architecture major and knitter, I’m interested in large scale interventions that use textiles or the logic of textiles. This also happens to be my thesis, the connection between the two. So here an example of a project that I’ve been inspired by lately:
The “Strawscraper” by Belatchew Arkitekter
This project proposes a building facade made from piezoelectric materials in a straw like form that blow in the wind and transform that movement into energy for the building. “The straws consist of a ceramic core with a flexible polymer cladding” and “What is usually considered to be the most static of all things, the building, suddenly comes alive and the construction gives the impression of a body that is breathing,” says Belatchew Labs’ official release.
What I find really interesting about the project is that it is taking a technology used in e-textiles and trying it at the scale of a building. The use of this system creates a new way of looking at an urban wind farm that is much more visually pleasing/interesting and seems much less harmful in terms of the surrounding wildlife. It also has the potential to be integrated into existing buildings or tunnels.
A few projects to inspire and introduce the field:
The Crying Dress by Hannah Perner-Wilson and Mika Satomi
Specifically I want to highlight their use of storytelling and character generation to inform their process. This duo is phenomenally meticulous in their documentation. Please look at the making of page (especially if you are interested in sound generation – really cool stuff here): http://www.kobakant.at/?p=287
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