This dissertation is an example of artistic research that explores the border between fashion design and contemporary art, in order to place situated bodily practices within the larger field of explor... mer ation and ideology, and to discover new formats. The activities engaged in explore the dressed body as a contemporary art medium, and the performances are carried out in public space and within everyday life. The research utilizes ‘the itinerary’, put forward by Certeau, as a metaphor for its prevailing methods. Three extensive art projects are presented within the dissertation: THREE, the Mirror Brooch, and Transformers. The first project concerns exhibition of the intermediate art form of the dressed body in the institutions of art, in this example, the gallery space; the second involves the presentation and use of the Mirror Brooch and examines art as an everyday life experience; and the third entails performances, staged in various locations and featuring the Transformer Jackets, and which are viewed as explorations into public space. The relationship between experience, on one hand, and representation and documentation, on the other, is treated as a translation; a translation meant to be ‘haunting’, and one which feeds energy back into the ongoing artistic process. The conclusion is that, both, performances and translations can be used to strengthen identity and engagement in public space.
The Ambience’11 conference focuses on the intersections and interfaces between technology, art and design. The first international conference in the Ambience series was held in Tampere, Finland in 2005. In Tampere the basic theme was “Intelligent ambience, including intelligent textiles, smart garments, intelligent home and living environment”. In Borås 2008 it was “Smart Textiles – Technology & Design” in focus and in Borås 2011 it is the new expressional crossroads where art, design, architecture and technology meet.
Kan man förhålla sig till, och arbeta med, mode på samma sätt som musiker arbetar när de spelar in en skiva med covers? Tanken bakom Covers var att göra en kollektion med covers på andra konstnärer och designers som intresserade mig ur ett tillskärningsperspektiv.
Dandyn är en olöst gåta, ett mysterium. I utställningen får besökaren vara med på Nordiska museets spaning efter honom. Många har försökt svara på vem han är, hur han ser ut och var han kommer ifrån. För vissa är dandyn en specifik person, för andra en stil eller ett förhållningssätt. I utställningen får vi följa dandyn i en labyrint genom tid och rum. Vi synar honom i sömmarna och närgranskar detaljer i hans dräkt. I sökandet efter dandyismens essens är varje uttryck en viktig ledtråd. En dandy är en person som med integritet vill uttrycka sig genom sina kläder oavsett om stilen är lågmäld, färgstark, konservativ eller nytänkande. Utställningen synar honom i sömmarna. Ingen detalj är oviktig. I utställningen ges förslag på hur dandyn kan te sig idag. Skräddaren Frederik Andersen, modeforskaren Rickard Lindqvist, journalisten Olof Enckell, stylisten Lalle Johnsson, författaren Björn af Kleen, designern Göran Sundberg och butiksägaren Christian Quaglia har fått styla förslag av moderna dandys.
Through a smart textile design project we have identified two sets of complex issues generally relevant for design with state changing materials. Specifically, we show how the temporal dimension of smart textiles increase the complexity of traditional textile design variables such as form and colour. We also show how the composite nature of smart textiles creates a series of interdependencies that make the design of the textile expressions additionally complex. We discuss how these forms of complexity provide opportunities as well as challenges for the textile expressions, and we show how we dealt with them in practice.
No longer is it sufficient to add ‘smart’ to textiles to secure interesting research results. We have surpassed the initial stages of explorations and testing and now need to raise the bar. We have thus specified a research program in which we investigate what it means to design with smart textiles. What can we design with smart textiles? And how do we design with smart textiles? We now explore how these complex, often abstract, materials can enter traditional design practices and what role smart textile can play in the design of our environment. In this paper, we discuss the challenges we see at present, we outline our new research program and we qualify it through three examples of our ongoing projects: The smart textile sample collection, Dynamic textile patterns, and Bonad [tapestry]. The paper is as much an invitation to join forces, as it is a description of a maturing process within design research. We are over the first love, now what?
This project displays a modified old chair that mimics an action of a bird. The chair is equipped with technology, enabling it to act the same sequence as a particular kind of bird, the bird of paradise does toward it's potential mate. A potential mate in the case of a chair, a human by-passer. What to understand from this object is up to it's audience. It may be a political statement, it may be a display of technology or it may be a mere form of aesthetic artifact. As an artist, I shall remain in silence.
Suicidal Teapot is a teapot, which hits itself until it breaks. We may sympathize with its action as an attempt of suicide, or may observe its motion as a pure mechanical function. In any case, the self-destruction continues until the teapot shatters into pieces, splashing out the tea it contains. The destruction will be completed with high-voltage short-circuit blast on the fabric circuit beneath. You may use this teapot as a suicidal apparatus, by sitting beside with a cup of tea and waiting until the final moment arrives. If you are lucky, you will be “properly” electrocuted.
Eight Steps depicts the making-of a wearable instrument. Based on a series of workshops that focus on unveiling the black box of technology in order to demonstrate how everyday electronic objects can be opened up and modified to better suit our personal needs and desires. In the workshops we make use of cheap electronic sound toys, combining their circuitry with the library of Textile Sensors that we have developed, in order to allow participants to construct personalized e-textile interfaces.
Craft, both as process and resulting artifact, implies notions of care, foresight, human skill and investment. In this paper we examine the practice of creating E-Textiles as a contemporary craft, and we ask ourselves what will become of this craft when the first fully automated machine for E-Textiles production hits the market. Will the craft in E-Textiles survive, and why do we care that it does?