Category Archives: Week 1: Course Intro

[Week 1] Project Critique

A project I really enjoyed is the line of Sound Reactive dresses by Rainbow (Amy) Winters.  She made two pieces, one that responds with nature like animations and another that animates more fractal shapes that she refers to as the “Picasso explosion.”

These dresses animate differently based off incoming sound, and I find the whole idea of reactive clothing like this fascinating.  I am definitely not a huge fashion nerd, and my general getup is jeans and a t-shirt, but I am a science nerd, so the underlying tech of these pieces really fascinates me.  I am also a sucker for anything geometry related so the Picasso dress really grabbed my attention.  The dresses are made up of neoprene tubes, electroluminescent panels, as well as mirrors to blast out the colors and animations to the outside world.

HIBOU

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This gilded ceramic structure is more than meets the eye. By using palladium paint the user is able to transform the structure into a workable radio with on/off, volume and frequency. It uses simple patterns paired with touch/sliding UI to harness these components. Besides being fully function this radio also has a beautiful aesthetical value with is ceramic construction. A truly unique and multifunctional piece.
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This is a interactive Sculpture project called Cloud created byCanadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett.  Is was made from 6000 light bulbs that build a giant cloud in the public space.Each of these bulbs is attached to a pull-string, allowing viewers to control the illumination of the structure – like lightning in the CLOUD above them. I really like this work because I do like the result that people can interact with installation in the public space and is actually many people can engaged. So, what the cloud looks like depends on many people’s behaviours . Moreover, I like this installation is not using too much super tech inside of it. I mean a lot designers and artists dive into the technology recently which they try to integrate the tech such like sensors, AI, projection in their projects. I think maybe people over use  technology in their project. I think sometimes just very simple material can arouse people’s emotional resonance. It does not have to be very high-tech. I do love this project is very pure and low-tech but I think is very smart and at the same time it let everyone engage with it and enjoy it. It makes me start thinking I should consider factors in the future when I do a interactive project. Sometimes is more about material that you choose, more about user experience rather than thinking about technology all the time.

INTIMACY 2.0 (WEEK1)

By Studio Roosegaarde

“INTIMACY is a high-tech fashion project exploring the relation between intimacy and technology. Its high-tech garments entitled ‘Intimacy White’ and ‘Intimacy Black’ are made out of opaque smart e-foils that become increasingly transparent based on close and personal encounters with people.

Social interactions determine the garments’ level of transparency, creating a sensual play of disclosure.
”  — Studio Roosegaarde

Parts of the dress turn transparent when the wearer’s heart rate rises. It can render visible the wearer’s innermost thoughts. I find this project interesting because it explores several field – fashion, technology, social interactions, and human body.  We tend to hide our excitement, tension and anger from others. We feel vulnerable when people knows our thought just like we are naked. The dress became a part of the wearer and contribute the most honest interaction with others.
Materials: Smart foils, wireless technologies, electronics, LEDs, copper.

Touching world (Week 1)

This project is called Birth Installation, which is designed by Sebastian Wolf, Julien Simshauser and Claudia Symank.

It’s an installation presenting a new world to audiences with animations. There is a physical thing called Mega Joy which is made of conductive fabrics. Audiences can touch the body of Mega Joy or bend its tentacles to interact with the animations on the projection to see different worlds.

This project combines digital media and physical interaction. People can actually touch the physical thing to interact with the digital world. I think physical ways of interaction can give audience more real feeling of communication. I’m also interested in combining physical and digital ways of interaction to help people communicate with each other. That’s why I like this project.

material: conductive fabric

Week1_Luobin_Project:Strandbeest

Theo Jansen has been working on this new “form” of life for over 25 years. This creature is made of yellow pipes and they “eat” wind to walk. The unique skeleton structure enables this creature to live by itself, walking flawlessly on the beach. Varies prototypes(“Animarus Apodiacula”, “Animarus  Suspendisse” and “Animarus Turgentia Vela” etc.) have been developed and the Strandbeest became something bizarrely organic like this in this video:

This living life form really intrigues by its combination of art and science. Although it doesn’t use any electric technology, Strandbeest is a work of art and mechanical perfection. The beauty of seemingly random behavior is what made this piece one of my favorite. It let me think of perpetual motion possibility at first look. The ability of making use of wind to drive a “machine” this big, not mentioning the recent version can even store the wind power itself, is truly amazing.

 

CO2 Dress (Week_01)

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CO2 Dress designed by Danish design firm Diffus (https://youtu.be/3LuvLmCiSuw)

It is a beautiful pollution sensing dress. The most fascinating function of the dress is that the CO2 dress monitors the CO2 levels in a given environment and visualizes the data in real time with a flickering of light patterns. 

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a colorless, and the carbon dioxide itself can cause headache, dizziness, nausea and other symptoms at high levels. It is very clever that people can realize the level of carbon dioxide through the dress in the space – slow pulsations when the levels are low, short and hectic when they’re high. The CO2 dress is functional and aesthetic. I would love to buy this dress for the environment!

The dress is constructed using soft circuit techniques including the Lilypad Arduino, and the LEDs are stitched into the embroidery of the dress.

Project: Countours (Week_1)

Isabella Cruz-Chong

Here is the Video!
(I wasn’t able to embed it)

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The aspect that intrigues me the most about the project Contours is how there are several layers to the piece/experience. I imagined the user was going to get only one specific sound by touching it and to my surprise there are different tones and frequencies which invites the person to keep exploring not knowing exactly what the result will be. It is a powerful way of setting up a “simple” and elegant installation and giving the viewer the power to discover its true dimension and complexity. The aspect that doesn’t work as well or I can’t figure it out from the video is how the person is invited to touch the piece. If I see the paper hanging how it is in the photos I wouldn’t think of touching it. I’m wondering if in some way they are inviting the viewers and if they are, how so? The other aspect to explore more is the aesthetic and graphics of the paper. I wonder if there is a relationship between the black and white lines and the sound. By quickly looking at it, there doesn’t seem to be. I imagined they could be piano keyboards but I feel something is missing. I imagine this piece could have a more thoughtful and complex aesthetic still keeping its minimum style.

Hunt For High Tech_week 1_assignment

The project called Hunt For High Tech from Bart Hess. It’s a collection of “conceptual textiles and animations that seek to harness both nature and technology in an effort to create a new human/animal archetype. ” (http://barthess.nl/hunt-for-high-tech.html)

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I like the hairy shoes most. As the wearer’s second skin, this pair of shoes can breath as a live animal. Bart imagined animals could be part robot, part biological organism. I like his cyborg idea, the breathing and the aesthetic. But I don’t think their breathing is synchronizing with wearer’s breath, which is a little regret. I would love to try some second skin design in the future. It inspires me how to demonstrate a live skin by breathing.

Lotus Dome by Studio Roosegaarde (Week 1)

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Link to video (since it’s not inserting itself into the post): https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/lotus-dome/

From Studio Roosegaarde:

LOTUS 7.0 is a living wall composed of smart foils that fold open in response to human behaviour. When walking by LOTUS, hundreds of aluminium foils unfold in an organic way; generating transparent voids between private and public space.



LOTUS makes physical walls immaterial, giving way to a poetic morphing of space and people.



Specifications:

2010-2011. Curved wall of 4 x 2 meters fitted with hundreds of smart foils, lamps, sensors, software and other media.

Lotus Dome was the project that opened my eyes to the existence of smart materials. At that time I thought it was absolutely fascinating how materials could move on “their own” and still am fascinated its potential. Though I’d always known that logically, material is very important when it comes to creating something, especially installations, Lotus Dome really struck that home since the concept to it is quite simple, yet the results is quite beautiful, thanks to its use of materials. Since then I’ve always wanted to get my hands on some of these “new” sorts of materials, though so far I haven’t been able to, since they’re not exactly budget-friendly.