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Otto sent me a paper copy of the thesis last year and because i'm about to leave to the airport i'm just going to copy/paste its abstract. It does what it says on the tin after all: This thesis consists of a series of extensive projects which aim to explore a new designer role for fashion. It is a role that experiments with how fashion can be reverse engineered, hacked, tuned and shared among many participants as a form of social activism. This social design practice can be called the hacktivism of fashion. It is an engaged and collective process of enablement, creative resistance and DIY practice, where a community share methods and experiences on how to expand action spaces and develop new forms of craftsmanship. In this practice, the designer engages participants to reform fashion from a phenomenon of dictations and anxiety to a collective experience of empowerment, in other words, to make them become fashion-able.
As its point of departure, the research takes the practice of hands-on exploration in the DIY upcycling of clothes through "open source" fashion "cookbooks". By means of hands-on processes, the projects endeavour to create a complementary understanding of the modes of production within the field of fashion design. The artistic research projects have ranged from DIY-kits released at an international fashion week, fashion experiments in galleries, collaborative "hacking" at a shoe factory, engaged design at a rehabilitation centre as well as combined efforts with established fashion brands. Using parallels from hacking, heresy, fan fiction, small change and professional-amateurs, the thesis builds a non-linear framework by which the reader can draw diagonal interpretations through the artistic research projects presented. By means of this alternative reading new understandings may emerge that can expand the action spaces available for fashion design. This approach is not about subverting fashion as much as hacking and tuning it, and making its sub-routines run in new ways, or in other words, bending the current while still keeping the power on. Related: Interview with Otto von Busch, Experiments in fashion heresy. |
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Wanting to Be You is a suit that allows one ardent fan to distinguish themselves from the crowd at film premieres. The suit is comprised of a projector, speakers and a light system, controlled by an portable media player. The suits emits hysterical screams louder than the standard fan collective. As the target star approaches confessed messages are projected. When the wearer gets the attention from the object of their devotion, the suit rejoices by bursting into a climatic display The work was exhibited a few weeks ago at the work in progress show of the Royal College of Art in London. Given my recent obsession with everything Demis Roussos, i couldn't help but imagine myself wearing it for his next gig and i asked Ross Cairns, student at the Design Interactions department, to explain us what the suit was about exactly.
Why did you chose to engage with the (sub-)culture of fandom? Did any particular story or person triggered this interest? I must admit my real interest came when I discovered the story of Mark Boardman. He's an ardent celebrity spotter with over 4000 autographs, his own celebrity testimonials and now if your not on the A-List, he's not interested. His website alone is true expression of devotion, I love it. But this suit isn't for him. Possibly he has surpassed the status of 'fan'. Through his connection to fame he has become an object of fame. I started hanging out at London's Leicester Square during film premiers as I was so intrigued by fandom - that strange mix between aspiration and devotion - that i think we all have in us. The way people interact at premiers is amazing. Like the frenzied girls I stood between who were passionately screaming after every second word whilst arguing over the tactical advantages of where they stood. Or, every passer by who asked who the celebrities were when really only 10% of fans there could really see anything.
Have you ever tested the suit yourself? With what outcome? Do you really think you can find a true and dedicated fan of some celebrity who will be brave enough to wear it? It's great to play around with - but it's not ready yet! As for myself, possibly I'm a little too introverted and stand-offish to use it, but the extroversion it causes to the wearer is enjoyable. Whether my fan who will wear this is truly dedicated to a celebrity remains to be seen. But my aim is to make them seem more truly dedicated than anyone else. Of course even if I were able to exceed my ambitions it may be tactfully ignored by the film stars. But as a vehicle of expression I'm interested to see any reaction from other fans. Has the idea of 'being a fan' anything to do with standing out from other fans? Or isn't it more part of being in a group of shouting and like-minded people? I think both. By being a fan you express an interest to be part of a collective. This could be apparent in that fans further back in the crowd scream, cheer and shout even when they can't see what is happening. But at the same time you use your fanaticism to define yourself and distinguish yourself from others. This could be a bit emotive and sincere, like placards people bring to express affection. Ultimately if the aim is to grab attention at premier, it is competitive. Do you plan to keep on working on the project and bring it any further? Yes certainly, there's a lot to be done. In the show was my initial study of how to realise the technicalities. Now I'm in the process of designing a more robust suit. Then, hopefully, I'm off to catch a premier or two. Thanks Ross! |
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A month ago, i visited War and Medicine, a unique exhibition that explores the relationship between warfare and medicine, beginning with the disasters of the Crimean War and continuing through to today's conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Proper report will follow later on but i thought this image deserved a post on its own.
War and Medicine closed on February 15, at the Wellcome Collection in London. |
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RRRIPP!! Paper Fashion, an exhibition conceived by ATOPOS in Athens, is the outcome of an investigation on paper clothing, a long-forgotten but very popular phenomenon in the United States at the end of the '60s.
The fad can be traced back to 1966 when manufacturing company Scott Paper Company used the paper dress to promote their toilet paper and paper tissues. In exchange of $1.25, happy housewives would be mailed a paisley or op-art 'Paper Caper' dress and some coupons to buy napkins and toilet rolls. Demand exceeded the 500,000 garments produced and other manufacturers soon followed with designs to promote their own goods.
It didn't take long for designers to grab the idea and launch a proper 'Paper Fashion'. In pure '60s Pop culture, you could find one-off paper dresses adorned with portraits of the Presidential candidates and flower-power paper bikinis. Disposable clothing had a very futuristic, 'space age' appeal. As one textile designer stated for Life Magazine, "Who is going to do laundry in space?"
The curator of the exhibition and director of ATOPOS, Vassilis Zidianakis, asked today's fashion designers and artists to create something of their own inspired by the over 100 authentic paper dresses that form part of its collection. The show puts side by side dozens of authentic sixties paper dresses, and the creations by the likes of Sophia Kokosalaki, Michael Cepress, Yiorgos Eleftheriades, Johanna Trudzinski, Takashi Murakami, Bas Kosters, Angelos Bratis, Deux Hommes, Marcus Tomlinson etc.
Besides, the exhibition has extended its scope to the study of the use of paper in the history of garments and in contemporary fashion: paper kimonos of the Edo period in Japan, paper shirts burn with the deads in China, prisoner's of war waistcoat from WW2, made from paper sacksgarments for hygienic and industrial use, early 20th century men's collars, cuffs and ties made of paper as a cheaper alternative to fabric, etc. The exhibition is also displaying samples of paper creations by famous designers, such as John Galliano, Issey Miyake, Hussein Chalayan, Kosuke Tsumura, Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester and many more. Far from being one-offs to be thrown away, a number of these paper garments can be worn several times thanks to the use of sturdier paper materials such as tyvek, a synthetic paper material.
Paper is not the only material used as an alternative to textile. Suzanne Lee's BioCouture project explores the possibility of growing garments from bacterial cellulose. Lee, a Senior Research fellow at Central Saint Martins in London and the author of the book Fashioning the Future: tomorrow's wardrobe, has been experimenting with cellulose bacteria and yeast in a bid to bring forward sustainable techniques for manufacturing clothes.
The material is cultivated in a sweet tea-solution, allowing the bacteria to produce a material half-way between papyrus and leather with a color that can be altered through the choice of tea. The end product looks like leather (here's a bad photo).
The show is splendidly designed by Normal Studio. The exhibition closes on February 2, 2009. It will then tour to the Mode Museum in the Province of Antwerp from 05/03/2009 until 16/08/2009 and to the Design Museum in London from 10/2009 until 01/2010. |
C.STEM 2008: Breeding Objects - Computational Design, from Digital Fabrication to Mass-Customization
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Good old Turin is currently hosting the third edition of C.STEM. The theme this year is Breeding Objects - Computational Design: from Digital Fabrication to Mass-Customization and while the spotlight is still on generative systems, it is, in many respects, very different from the first edition. This time, the main protagonists are designers, not artists.
Although, i have taken the habit of running swiftly in the opposite direction when i hear the word 'design,' i have to admit that the programme this year is remarkable. Especially because it brings that innovative focus i had hoped to see more widely explored in the schedule of the Torino World Design Capital. C.STEM showcases projects anticipating future developments in design process and technologies. What happens when domains such as design, creative coding and digital fabrication meet the new scenarios of mass-customization?
The exhibition and conference explores the way design is currently re-considered and shaped through the lens of information society and, more generally, new technologies. The work of young designers today involves a crucial paradigm shift: not only do they use the digital tools provided to them but they also invent, modify and produce new instruments themselves.
Another important characteristic of the new design production involves digital fabrication processes such as laser cutting and 3D printing (a few examples in the posts Rapid Products 1 and 2). The impact of digital fabrication is far from marginal: instead of churning out identical products, objects are created which, while they undeniably belong to the same family, are all different from each other. Beyond the creative process and fabrication, the digital tools and new design processes have also the potential to radically modify the marketing of design products and the way consumers engage with the creation of objects. Two projects presented in the exhibition, Nervous Systems and Fluid Forms (see below), have already been launched on the market and as such, exemplify new business possibilities. C.STEM conference is over but you can still see the exhibition until September 27 inside an Ex Methodist Church. If i were you i'd run there, you don't see a show like that every year in this
Located in an ex-Methodist church in the center of Turin, the exhibition illustrates what is the state of the art of computational design through a series projects that range from everyday objects you can buy online to sweatshirts weaved with newsfeeds, and a 3D printing machine able to 'prints' most of its own components (not the original one but maybe even better, a version fatta in casa by ToDo design studio.) The list of projects exhibited is online. Here's just a selection:
Ebru Kurbak and Mahir Yavuz' NewsKnitter project comments on the manipulation by the media in Turkey. Live data streams of information are used as an unpredictable base for pattern generation. Web-based information is either gathered from the Turkish daily political news or according to a theme that pervades global news. The data is analyzed, filtered and converted into a unique visual pattern for a knitted sweater. The system consists of two different types of software: one receives the content from live feeds while the other converts it into visual patterns, a fully computerized flat knitting machine produces the final output. The pieces of clothing are not for sale right now but the designers are working on that.
The jewelry designed by Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg of Nervous System, on the other hand, is up for grab. The design is both heavily tech-mediated and inspired by organic forms. Using two custom-made computer applications --one mimics branching dendrites, and the other the movement of particles--the designers generate forms for bracelets, pendants, and earrings. The Radiolaria line, for example, is named after the plant cells whose structure was a source of inspiration for Buckminster Fuller. Jewelry from the Dendrite collection takes its cue from the aggregate growth of coral. The Dendrite algorithm both controls the aggregation and allows consumers to participate in the design process
Way more beautiful in real than on pictures, 1 of 1 design studio creates one-of-a-kind, made to order apparel. For The Tissue Collection, designer Cait Reas worked together with C.E.B. Reas. The artist generated the Tissue images by defining processes and translating them into images with code and software. Cait used a digital textile printing technique to apply the patterns to fabric.
In case you'd worried that this blog is turning into a geeky version of Harper's Bazaar, i'll have to mention that the best moment of C.STEM for me was to listen to Marc Fornes from theverymany. It's the second time i attend one of his talks and i'm still not sure i understand most of what he says but his work is so awesome that it doesn't really matter.
His presentation addressed failure. For example, he detailed how the Aperiodic_vertebrae structure that theverymany developed for Generator x - Beyond the Screen (a workshop and exhibition which highlighted the creative potential of digital fabrication and generative systems) in Berlin taught him that while computers facilitate many of the design processes much of the assembly still has to be done by hands. The Berlin version of the Aperiodic Tiling counted some 530 panels and nearly as many connecting components.
The core of theverymany approach is therefore to use computer to generate, not just many parts, but a logic between these parts. They applied the concept to the woven pedestrian bridge that Francois Roche from R&Sie is building on the boundaries of Poland and the Czech Republic. My images from the event. About the 2006 edition of C.STEM: C.STEM conference, Part 1 and Part 2. Related entry: Generator x - Beyond the Screen, a workshop and exhibition which highlighted the creative potential of digital fabrication and generative systems. |
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Sunday at Conflux, the art and technology festival for the creative exploration of urban public space, was hot in every sense including (unfortunately for Summer-phobics like me) in the meteorological one. Given both the temperature and his own intrepidness, all my admiration went to Lucas Murgida. Last year, the artist was teaching Conflux participants the handy and delicate art of lock-picking. For this edition of the festival, he built a beautiful wooden cabinet, left it on a sidewalk and hid inside it. Mugida stayed in this torridness, for hours and with just a bottle of water, not revealing himself until a passerby would bring the cabinet to their home.
The name of the performance is 9/10 because Murgida wanted to check what would become of the often-quoted phrase, 'Possession is 9/10 of the law' when private property is placed in a public space. As he wrote: A person is not sure how to look at the object at first, but will usually fall back on the golden rule of U.S. culture (finders keepers, losers weepers) and claim it to be theirs. I am hoping to subvert the "finder's" personal space by claiming it to be my own public space. Saturday wasn't much of an adventure. The cabinet was left in the street, people appeared to be tempted but they left it where it was. Now Sunday was more eventful, the artist and the cabinet got rolled into the storage room of a restaurant. As he had drilled a hole in the cabinet, Lucas was able to take pictures and get an idea of what was going on. The plan was to slip out unnoticed and leave the cabinet to its new owner. Get the details.
Jenny Chowdhury was braving the mellowing heat in her 802.11 Apparel - Wifi Jacket. Part of a line of clothing that reflects wifi strength detected in the wearer's immediate environment, the jacket literally "bring to light" a portion of the invisible radio waves by illuminating five stripes in accordance with the wifi signal strength.
The basic stripes of LEDs are integrated into a flower motif. This design choice associate our natural environment (the flower pattern) with the synthetic one (technology.) More wearable devices were displayed all along the festival: CO2RSET which monitors air quality and tightens or loosens on the body in response to the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere; the Back-to-Back Massager vest which rows of electric massagers are pointed outward in order to massage others; Compli-mum, a kind of armor for women that plays movies and changes its own shape by separating or gathering parts of its construction through the use of microcontroller and a motorized skeleton structure and a very fetching Helmet Piece which i'm inconsolable to have missed.
Another work i missed because i was so busy passing the microphone to the public for a Q&A of the panel i curated for Conflux (more about that soon-ish), is The Light Mobs which showed participants how to use a simple little mirror (the pocket Lightcoder) and sunlight to transmit information. But lucky me! i met Geraldine Juarez the day after and she gave me one of the Lightcoders to morse around and lucky us! she documented the action online. The project had a very praiseworthy goal: to bring attention to our blind faith in digital technology as a medium of communication, using a simple analog "device": the pocket Lightcoder.
I finally did a Botanicalls tour in which plants guide you by telephone in the area surrounding Conflux HQ. Each tree or plant, speaks in their own "Botanicalls" voice, based on their botanical habits and characteristics. It all started with the arrogant Rose and her ridiculous French accent (i'm allowed to write that cuz i gave her my voice) and ended with heart-breaking cries for help coming from the kitchen of a vegetarian restaurant.
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