Artist Statement

Sprouts are nutritious sources of the complete protein. The process of photosynthesis acts as a great in-breath of carbon dioxide and exhalation of oxygen. Gardening is said to have some of the psychological effects of meditation.

Thus we introduce the Portable Greenhouse, a whimsical device that provides a year-round breath of fresh air for the urban dweller with a green thumb and a penchant for protein.

Artist Statement.

Sleep is essential in one's daily routine, yet it may cause a disruption in one's schedule. Sometimes a certain shock is needed to achieve a level of awakeness in order to move on with a task. The first stage of sleep is a relatively light stage of sleep that last almost 10 minutes, yet it may lead to the danger of accidentally falling asleep before an important deadline.

We are interested in creating a hoodie that sends a sense of shock to an individual after x amount of minutes in order to invert the purpose of comfort of clothing, but fulfilling what you want to do. We want to alter the alarm clock into a wearable form as a way to provide a different purpose and function.

Thoughts about concept of Falling

Falling is falling. A verb. A noun. Something. The traditional idea is that falling is simply only gravity functioning on something. Constantly things are falling around us. Falling into or out of place. Falling out. Falling on. Falling with. Free fall. V(t) = -gt + Vo. As we continue to fall it increase. That increase continues unless something else is acted on. I refuse to make or say some grand conclusion or thesis. I do not expect a response from you, one is not needed. Rejection of the modernist approach to a single grandeur viewer and point, but rather as collection of interpretations that inform, add to, take away, fall, and enhance the world. Argh. Lol. Babe. Hehe. You know me. Really? Is that so?  Let’s go down this rabbit hole. Let’s focus on the falling. Who really cares what is at the end. We all know the story. Every story has been told. The things are occurring with the stuff with the movement of how the wind goes forth and thinking about what goes along. So let’s focus on the process. The movement. The verb. The action. Let’s make an action a noun. Let’s subvert that noun into an action. Then take that action and make it intangible to you. You? Yes you. Lmao. Time is elapsed. I’ve seemed to master falling. “We want to do it, and do it right.” You only live once, why not? I am surrounded by me. Falling down. Falling up. Going. Planning on doing something. Subvert the method. Use the materials and medium as a tool to do something. Rules. Paradox. Imagery. Abstract. The landscape. The scene. Changes. Sometimes the person you fall for isn't ready to catch you. Or is it all just actually static? Being aloof, cool, and distant; casually social and fiercely independent. Have half an inch of wick on the quarter-stick of dynamite in the first place. Rather than being tied down to something. Genuine. I really do not know how to start this. Note though that I disagree. There is one but lets just see where this goes. Let’s fall.

Mid-Process work and Artist Statement

I realized today that I really needed to start thinking about the actual mechanism and how my piece is physically going to work. I didn't really think it would be too complicated, and I think I'm right in believing that. I had a lot of fun the other day sewing a soft circuit and playing with conductive materials, and although I don't think I will be making use of those. I am, however, really excited to use that fancy sewing machine.

Anyway, here are some images of my contraption that I have sketched out.



This first two images are just a few loose sketches of the headpiece in alarmed and relaxed mode from the side. The piece will be made of a large stretchy headband to secure it to the head, and then a long piece of material (maybe felt) going down the head to the neck that will house all of the electronics. I plan on using five regular servos to control the feather angle and each will get the same input from the pulse sensor (or whatever other sensor I end up using). I came up with what is hopefully a good idea for getting some spread on the feathers. Ideally, I was thinking of using four long feathers to each motor, and sewing them all together with some space between them in string so that when the feather attached to the motor gets pulled up, the other feathers sewn to that follow and fill in more space (much like those Japanese accordion fans that you can close).
In this second image is a more detailed drawing of what the electronics housing will look like from a top-down view. At the very base will be a pocket in which you can slip the arduino, and this will disappear into the wearers shirt from the base of the neck. The wires will lead up through a closed portion to connect to all of the motors and the pulse sensor. There will be holes cut for each motor blade so that it can attach to the feathers while the motors themselves can remain hidden underneath the fabric. Depending on the best location for the pulse sensor, it will either drop down through the front and rest on the wearer's forehead, or will come out through the back and attach to the neck. However, this isn't really an issue at all right now.

Artist Statement:

Human beings have incredible emotional capabilities. We are able to convey an incredible range of feelings with both verbal and nonverbal cues. That being said, we also have great control over how we express those emotions. The ability to hide our emotions seems to be uniquely human, however, even if we attempt to mask what we feel, there are certain physiological reactions that can give us away if you know what to look for. In contrast, animals do not possess this capability to mask their feelings, and their actions give way to those underlying physiological processes that we humans try so hard to suppress. Social norms define the way we act and what is deemed acceptable, but what would happen if we were no longer able to put on a facade?

Ideas So Far

So before I was thinking about ideas of high fashion and somehow incorporating LEDs. I was thinking about ideas of the heartbeat and how when one's heart beats faster they get warmer and their temperature rises. I kind of related this to the idea of LEDs and how the more they light up they create a sense of intensity. So basically I was thinking of making some kind of dress or shirt that could light up in response to your heart rate, or instead of simply lighting up maybe they could change colors in a gradient of LEDs. I'm also interested in the general idea of LEDs responding to body movement and I definitely want to work with these kinds of sensors and LEDs. I definitely don't have much knowledge on these so I will have to do a good amount of research. As far as having something to show for Wednesday, I'm not sure exactly what to show except inspirational sketches/photos considering my lack of knowledge on anything except the basic Lily Pad we experimented with. But yes, more research to come!

Lia Griffith Presentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfWRq4vAxvk

About Where I'm At

I a currently in the process of coordinating people. I am sending out emails to various people to get this project jump-started. I am pricing pedometers and getting ready to mail them to those people who are going to be part of the project.

The next step is to set up a blog, and the only reason it's not done yet is because I am working on an appropriate title. So far...a lot of cheesiness has shown up, and I am pushing for NOT cheesy.

Since we have a few extra minutes, I'll brainstorm a little more on a title:
step a moment
time step
footfall
tread
instant
consequential
impacting

I like the word "tread" because it refers to the materiality of the shoe.
"Instant" is good because it references the second in a timeline. 
"Consequential" or "impacting" are relevant because they stress the result of the footstep. They reference that something was affected by that moment.

Ok. Got it. Between the 5 hours since class I have set up the blog: http://instantstread.blogspot.com/

Update Wearable Art

Here is a pic of experimenting with the idea of embedding leds into clothing, more will come once upload all the pics and movie from the source later.

link to sewing machine manual

http://layoftheland.net/ART4639-2012/Singer_7430_manual.pdf

Milk and Cereal Dress

When researching Geraldine Juarez for my artist presentation I got a lot of historical background on a fad that came in and out in the 1960's: paper dresses. They were only a dollar and were disposable and it made me even more inspired than before. I believe recycling to be very important and am interested in recycling material I've been collecting, specifically cereal boxes and milk cartons. Many studies show a direct correlation between healthier BMIs and cereal consumption at morning time. I want to create a form flattering dress made from cereal boxes and milk cartons that point to this fact, and I'm interested in presenting the raw data in a belt with an LCD panel as the buckle. My biggest concern or hurdle is the lack of dynamism in my project. I couldn't realistically purchase an electronic nose or electronic tongue which would be the most ideal sensors. Since I only intend to create one dress, I cannot really determine what sensor would be appropriate. There would be no change during the performance and I think I want to steer clear of exercise, measuring heart rate or # of steps because it is about the diet, not the exercise. Perhaps the stitching of the dress could represent the data, much like a quipu.

:_( Monday Monday la la, la la laa

I was interested in talking gloves, like one that could translate the manual alphabet for people, but that isn't quite Art. I'm still interested in a social interaction wearable, but the body language translator didn't make much sense logistically, you'd have to wear some sort of suit over your clothing. I've been looking into other peoples' conductive materials projects, the lab at MIT, a grad student who has been playing with pop-up books, simple wearables- maybe I could make a book with an interactive component? I thought of it too late for last time, but I got the idea from the movie we watched for a book that accurately portrayed the life of farm animals ....

Where I am

At this point, I'm thinking about logistics and aesthetics for my bird crest headpiece. I've started looking at feathers online but I'm a little unsure of what types and how ornate they should be. I hope things are not starting seem one-dimensional from a conceptual standpoint. I have been locked into this idea from the start, and I really like it, but I'm wondering if there's more behind this idea. Perhaps there is something else controlling the headpiece other than heartbeat.Perhaps we are able to have some control over it, maybe an override mode?

I was looking at shape-memory alloy to use instead of the motors, but it doesn't look like a feasible idea in terms of obtaining the material. It's pretty cool in that it remembers its original cold-forged shape. You can twist and bend it into whatever configuration, but when you heat up the wire, it then reverts to its original shape exactly. Here's a video demoing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsBHF_j2FJ4

I really need to get started with building the underlying mechanism and how it's going to attach to the head. After researching the pulse sensor for Arduino, I gained some insight as to how I can set it up. Fortunately, some of the best spots to attach the sensor are the neck and the head, which is convenient in that I can mount the Arduino to the base of the neck and have the entire mechanism bridge over the head to the middle of the forehead. I'm going to have to make some drawings and figure out the code, but I don't anticipate it to be terribly difficult. I also need to obtain the pulse sensor and experiment with it. There seems to be some good code and documentation of it on their website.

Project 2: Early Stages.

I spent some time over the weekend to see what sort of fabric that we could use to integrate it with LEDs and wires. At first, I thought of cotton and faux leather, but I figured it's ideal for the fabric to be a little thicker and strong enough to hold things together.

And then... BRAINBLAST:



Perhaps the style of trapper hats could be the ideal wearable to work with. Since Ryan began to do some experimenting with a hat, we began to think about creating a hat with LEDs as a sense of security symbol. But details of the ideas will be posted soon.

About a BBC Article on Wearable Tech & Wearable Artist

Check it out:
Pretty interesting:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9699488.stm


And now for wearable artist links:

Kobi Levi
http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/06/06/kobi.levi.shoe.art/index.html
http://www.blogger.com/profile/17122494673235109598
"A shoe is a very complicated object to design, it involves a lot of mini architecture: materials, techniques, tooling. All the shoe parts -- upper, insole, heel, sole -- need to be created perfectly together to give the whole picture. The end result is a real fantasy sculpture that can have another life when is worn, and not only on display. My "shoe creatures" have another appeal when you see them on the feet."

About the Bigger and Better Idea

The picture of this boot + 20minutes of time = bigger and better idea.

HERE GOES:
Feet. Shoes. You learn so much about people from their shoes.
Rich, poor, trendy, functional, how many pairs they wear in a day.
Human trace. Where have you been and where are you going.

Plan of action: Looking at a footstep as a moment. Not trying to standardize. Coordinate with people all over the world to track the amount of steps they take in a day, what shoes they wear that day, where they are that day. Then, I will ask which step they thought was their most significant in life. This puts value in the single step. We KNOW people are different, but looking specifically at the number of steps a person has taken looks at the single moments/steps that influence a person's life.

In a sense, I am looking at the moment of a footstep.
One step could mean life or death, one step could be your last, one step could change a person's direction in life...prime example: Neil Armstrong's "one small step." It is intriguing to look at the micro versus the macro.

1. pedometer to give context to how many steps are taken in a day
2. picture of shoes shows us who the person is
3. single, most significant step tells us who the person is
4. set up potential blog

Medium: shoes, photographs

Timeline:
February 22-March 3 --> coordinate pedometers, photographs, and people
March 4-16 --> have all the data and information collected, frames bought, blog set up
March 17-24 --> finish layout of project, install

Example photographs:

Wearable Technology Thoughts

Considering wearable technology and clothing as well as the discussion on Monday, I was thinking about how fashion can be functional in the sense that it clothes us and gives certain social ideas about someone. But I was also thinking about what it would be like if something fashionable als

o had a technological purpose that could do something else. I think I want to focus on somehow integrating fashionable clothing with wearable technology and kind of going with that idea of making something that looks good but still has a functional purpose other than protection/clothing.

I started thinking about how lots of wearable technology isn't practical for daily life and this is the same with high fashion. Most fashion you see on run ways is really dramatic and something you would never wear. Maybe it would be interesting to incorporate this idea of wearable technology and high fashion and bring both of them together to actually make something practical or truly wearable.

I'm interested in the idea of using solar powered panels or incorporating some kind of LED lights like this. I was really inspired by the Cute Circuit site, too. I'm very interested in how they bring the idea of high fashion into the realm of wearable technology because some of their work actually could be functional pieces of clothing where as lots of wearable technology isn't practical. I'm not sure exactly what the project will be just yet but these are the ideas I'm thinking of going with and would like to develop further.

About Weatherproofing Conceptually

Weatherproofing is not solely clothing based.
Think about protective lining for pipes, electronics, luggage.
Everything really.

Thinking conceptually about humans as weatherproof.
Are we weatherproof? Are we "able to withstand exposure to weather without damage or loss of function"? Without damage...no, I don't think so. Without loss of function...ya, we're capable. Does going through a rough time make you more weatherproof? Does a single moment make or break you? Does it define you?


Still no exact visual for this yet. Possibly a thick rubber jacket (tough rubber, like car mats or wheels), with subtle vulnerabilities. Rubber because of its toughness. I need to be careful to be poetic but not cheesy.

http://www.saraglove.com/PVC-Gloves-s/32.htm

 

Brainstorm

Maybe I would create jewelry using holographic sensors that respond to the environment, potentially to glucose, like these scientists used to test diabetes. To make holographs that aren't sensors, I could buy this kit and make eye glasses with it. Perhaps it would emphasize seeing what isn't there. Maybe rapid prototype print the frames. Netalia pointed out to me different types of smart glass. National Treasure glasses? More Smart glass.

Second idea: Cereal box dress. Work w/ electronic nose, electronic tongue, moisture detection sensor, or displaying facts about cereal eating via LEDs or LCD

Karchner's Milk Maid dress won second place in Wearable Art, made out of milk jugs.

Project Idea.

Ryan and I will be collaborating on this project. We were thinking of creating an article of clothing that consists of LED lights to express the mood or fashion sense of the day. We were interested in the way that certain colors emit a sense of mood upon an individual, and how others unconsciously view others when they see the color palette of an outfit. Ideally, a body suit would be made to express this idea, but perhaps this is too ambitious and would require a lot of LEDs and wires. Instead, we were thinking of making a shirt or a scarf that is fairly transparent so that the LEDs and wiring could be hidden underneath.

New Wearable Technology Idea - Portable Umbrella Greenhouse

My new idea retrofits those large clear "bubble" umbrellas that have become so popular, into a portable greenhouse for growing nutritious sprouts. Interior pockets will hold small amounts of soil and the sprouts, while aligned exterior pockets will be water capturing and divert the flow into the soil on the interior through little channels between the interior and exterior pockets.

I will drill through the stem of the umbrella and attach a hand pumped watering hose that will squirt through the top of the umbrella stem out over the umbrella. The water will then flow down the umbrella canopy in much the same way that rain would, allowing it to be captured in the various little watering pockets.

The idea stemmed from the fact that I do not have adequate growing light for sprouts in the apartment where I live, nor as a college renter, do I actually have any land to grow upon. Hence, I needed a way to bring light to my plants yet still be able to move them at a moment's notice. Other concepts behind this piece are creating a bubble of fresh air in the urban landscape & empowering individuals to be micro-farmers.

It's however, first and foremost an environmental art performance piece. Imagine the looks one will get walking down the street with this device! Hopefully the public will get engaged in what it means to grow the food to eat and plants in the urban setting.

Sketches soon to be posted.

Thoughts by Dailie

There are a lot of fun sensors on sparkfun that could be used to make a hydrophobic accessory, a dust sensor, carbon monoxide sensor, etc, but that doesn't say much artistically. There's a small microphone, could make a fun fishing device. Course the smarter thing to do is have an idea and then work to the tech, the tech is just so exciting :/

Other things I still like: Conductive paint, which I will be experimenting with soon; solar panels, which are difficult because I understand voltage and current, but I haven't quite figured out watts yet; changing social interactions.

Rawr

I guess I haven't posted any of my thoughts about this project yet and I'm a little shocked because I immediately had some great ideas about it. I instantly thought about animals and it reminded me of the cockatiel that I had growing up. Cockatiels and Cockatoos especially have these magnificent looking crests on the tops of their heads that rise and fall and move according to their state of being. Being shocked or happy or nervous generally equates to a raised crest, which calmer emotions usually leave the crest at a down low. Animals tend to show their emotions outright and aren't quite capable of hiding or masking them in the way that humans do.

Last class I also thought about fashion trends and how much we borrow from the animal world. A basic example include wearing leather for clothing. Some more recent trends include those stupid hair feathers that everyone was wearing last summer as well as those feather earrings. We also like to wear animal print fabrics that are printed on cotton and other materials that aren't animal fur, which is kind of weird when you think about it. I'm not quite sure of the relevance of that point, but it felt important and I'd like to explore it a bit further when I have some more brain juices flowing.

Anyway, the original project thought I had was to construct some sort of outrageous bird-like headpiece. The headpiece would imitate a crest in that it would be motorized and move feathers up and down. The headpiece would be operated by some sort of biosensor that senses arousal. I was initially thinking about a pulse sensor that would raise and lower the feathers based on your heartbeat. I would however also like to look into other sensors. The mechanism seems very simple at this point but I really like it and I don't think it needs to be terrible complicated.

I would also like to look into mating displays and the historical context of headdresses and feathers. I know that Meso-american rulers and Native Americans wore ceremonial headdresses and that it was used in other cultures as well. While it used to be a symbol of royalty, its been reduced to cabaret, costumes, and fashion.


Check out the pulse sensor for Arduino!

Wearable Tech thoughts

In terms of the lecture of Isaac it is an interesting notion that his conjecture that he doesn't research or think that things an inspiration is an unknown. That you are not sure of where inspiration comes from. To see the odd things that those stick out. Something with a hole or just interesting has to be the focus and the idea of the notion of different things.















In terms of the thinking of the this notion of wearable are, focusing on the purpose of cloths. We often use them to conceal certain things. Conceal our flesh the nakedness of our bodies and the idea of the difference between the nude and the naked in art thought. The idea of using the clothing to extenuate the body parts such as elongating and mimicking the body could be an area to further explore. That clothing in an essence is an extension of the self, that the sensation of touch and feeling that your actual wearing clothing disappears after a certain amount of time. The decision between self and cloths and the other. Anyways here placed are nice pictures.

Reading Notes/ Points of Interest Pt.2

Reading Article #4 (Dress for Stress)

"critical garment discourse" - "work in the form of fashion/clothing that concerns not just the body but notions of dress capable of significant commentary."

Extreme environmental conditions clothing, architectural clothing for nomadic lodging, eco-luxury lines using renewable resources, biological threats like pandemics

"Dark Matter of the Art World" - work so embedded in reality that it is off the art radar

Cyberspace - will we be dressing our own bodies in the future or imagined (avatar) ones?

Reading Article #5 (A Virtual Interview with Geert Lovink)

Fashion is about visibility, technology is getting so small and hide-able that its actually a problem because no one will even notice. "Merely expands corporate functionality."

Reading Article #6 (The Curious Apparel: Wearables and The Hybronaut)

Hybronaut - person coupled with an artistic, often curious looking, wearable device

mobile phone- the creation of a third space in which one can be close to others, constant rescheduling and renegotiations based on very quick intervals

"Society, once having experienced technological progress, can no longer go backwards because we have become dependent upon it." SO TRUE

Hybronaut - needs to attract visual interest from the public to open interactive doors, "simply strolls around the city without any specific goal or destinations, simply observing life."

Seven Mile Boots - walking leads you into different real time chat rooms

The Head & Fruit Fly Farm - wearable acrylic balls

Reading Article #7 (Negotiations)

Use of multiple points of view and live-time blue screening technology

The Alien vs. The Authority - the authority actually becomes the one under control through acts of constantly having to keep the alien in sight.

Reading Notes/ Points of Interest

Reading Article #1

"The environmental movement, which promotes conservation areas for preservation purposes, has ironically increased the demands for tourism in these areas and thus accelerated the speed of environmental destruction."

"Wearable Forest, presents the possibility of a new relationship: non-verbal interaction with nature in daily life through the telepresence of different species."

Could it, through virtual recordings, potentially mess up actual mating, hunting, scenarios?

Reading Article #2 (What is Wearable Technology Art?)

Navigates tough path between "commercial fashion, theatrical costume, craft project, engineering device, and commercial prototype."

Development of elastic thread in the 1930's as result of research in synthetics.

"Garments reflect their technological culture, or their culture's fascination with technology."

"Functional portable gadgets - wearable computing - are not actually worn, they are carried or held, and ultimately have little to do with the conceptual and body-based nature of wearable technology."

Wearable Art - Aids Memorial Dress, embroidered with thousands of names of aids victims on a ball gown.

"As opposed to actual fashion, which is unabashedly commercial, art has long maintained a fantastical existence."

Reading Article #3 (Building a Culture of Ubiquity)

"The catalyst for the rapid expansion of a technological aesthetic has undoubtedly been the Internet."

The creation of the electronic culture via PDAs and decentralized distributions of communication and content.

4 spaces - the screen, the palm/pocket, the body, & the public space

Follow certain ritualistic modes of operating a system = performative aspect

PDAs = intimate, Lego Mindstorms home robotics system - bringing technology to disadvantaged kids

"What is the shift that is created when the site of engagement moves from the hand to the body?" "Transmutation of space."

About Wearable Readings

Personal Thoughts on
Social Fabrics
This reading sought to explain what distinguishes wearable art and how it fits in the world. In understanding this, it is important to clarify that technology/media is a "connective tissue or spatial field."

I found this to be an interesting statement in the reading: "On the
whole, wearable art has been a critically invisible practice."

This is because it is a realm that taps into fashion, technology, interaction in a very subtle way. When does wearable art become fashion or vice versa? There is a continuous theme between the various forms of interactive art we have studied in art & technology. We are on the brink of new understandings of art. In videogame art it was the same as wearable art: academic discourse about it is only in its early stages. Each art form brings into question how it fits into "art" versus fashion or technology. There is no black and white answer to this yet. The beauty of exploring this sort of art is that there is a lot of new turf to explore, and experimentation (along with its success and failure) only aids the investigation.


Personal Thoughts on
Beyond Human-Computer Interaction
Visually and conceptually, this is a beautiful piece. The fact that technology, something so engrained in our daily use, was used to communicate the link between humans and nature was ingenious. It came across as a conceptual ecosystem, where one aspect of the Wearable Forest affected the other.

The real-time quality of the piece was excellent. It conceptually marked the immediacy of the human-bio-system affect on each other. It makes a difference to know that the cause/effect is happening in the present, versus some random moment chosen in the past.

About Initial Brainstorming for Wearable

My initial thoughts direct themselves to the weatherproofing of clothes.
I think of weatherproof as:
1. resistant to the effects of rain, cold, wind, etc
2. emotional weatherproofing, passing through life experiences, learning how to move on

Materiality I think of with weatherproofing:
1. thick rubber (no rain getting through that)
2. pvs (polyvinyl chloride, cold/wind resistant)
3. gore-tex fabric

This being said, I am working on articulating a "weatherproof" wearable. I am thinking of the correlation of a captured moment in time and how that affected the "weatherproofing" of a person's experience/emotion. That's about as much as I can explain at this point. I am still very much in the development stages.

Project 1 Scanned Process Notes

About Versions of Wearable Technology

Let's see. What technology do we wear:
earphones
light up shoes
goggles
glasses
watches
climacool clothing
3D glasses
snowboard/skis
wakeboard/waterskis
parachute
backpack

I guess we were supposed to blog about our brainstorming

My first thought, which will need research, doi, would be to construct an outfit that would translate your posture, kinesics, into its corresponding social message. Netalia suggested lyrca morph suits and I was like, huh. Because it would need to be on the outside, because it would be made of conductive thread, and there's also conductive paint and conductive ink, to make the circuits complete when bits of you touch other bits of you, I'm not sure how it would work on the inside, RFID is been there done that, and I would need a code to translate body posture, there must be an authority somewhere.

Doing some basic google now, it's not a clear-cut science, but what is? One posture could have several very different meanings, and it's the combination that gives it meaning. Maybe most unconscious social expression is in the face, I wouldn't want to mess with electricity there ....

HMM.

Immediate Brainstorming

I think it would be awesome to creative an interactive wetsuit that could be wired with acoustically triggered LEDs. Wearing it underwater, frequencies transmitted by dolphins would trigger them to light up. BUT I WOULD DEFINITELY NEED A PARTNER or TWO! Lemme know if any of y'all are interested. (This could potentially end up on tv!)

Brainstorming for Wearables

First two random ideas that popped into my head: Camouflage and Emperor's New Clothes

Camouflage- portable lightweight screen you travel w/ that has a camera and a projector attached to it so that you can project what's behind the screen behind you so that your presence is not known from one side. (Camouflage fashion in Japan,

Emperor's New Clothes- Rich fabric projected onto nude body. It would require a portable projector and speak to the vanity of fashion over the utility of clothing.

The Necklace- Guy de Maupassant's short story also speaks to vanity and the appearance of clothes vs. its actual worth.

Wearable Technology

Wearable or wHereable technology? The location of the tech normally is here on someone is it not? I suppose it could be not on someone or something but for the most part I consider and think of something portable and meant to be on someone or near them. But more literally here is what our beloved Wiki says,

"Wearable technology, tech togs, or fashion electronics are clothing and accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies. The designs often incorporate practical functions and features, but may also have a purely critical or aesthetic agenda."

 I think of those tshirts at amusement parks or fairs where there are in bedded led lights flashing in them. What might be something interesting to explore would be those in bedded  lights to have some more of a functionality such as interaction with other people also wearing similar shirts to act as a messaging system that only the wearers or other people that have those shirts own.

Wearable Technology

Ideas on wearable technology in everyday life:

- Light up shoes

- Watches

- Glow in the dark clothing

- Suits that are insulated for scuba diving/surfing/etc

- Pretty much the general scope of clothing in general has been designed and technologically advanced

- Bluetooth headsets/headphones

"Wearable Technology."

When I think of "wearable technology" in literal terms, I think of Back to the Future Part II's self-drying jacket and the awesome Nike shoes. Besides that, I think of useful technology like watches, prosthetics, mass-produced clothing, sunglasses, jackets, shoes, headphones...

Thoughts on Wearable Technology

I'm probably taking this too literally, but when I think of Wearable Technology I think of iPod straps for joggers, light up sketchers (which keep making comebacks), sweaters that you can put headphones in, handwarmers that use microwave technology, the costumes that use EL Wires, watches, glasses and contacts (maybe),

Netalia and Dailey - Examples of Wearable technology

Light-up shoes!
UV protective clothing
Thermal clothing
Synthetic fabrics
Braces and orthodontics
Eyeglasses and contact lenses
Touch screen gloves
LED light-up pins
prosthetics
snorkeling/scuba gear
hearing aids
a parachute
a pacemaker
medicated patches/nicotine patches
artificial organs
headphones

Initial Idea of what Constitutes Wearable Technology

When someone speaks of wearable technology I initially think of:

- those shirts that light up bars according to the music your ipod is playing

- drysuits (more heavy duty than wetsuits)

- scuba equipment

- 3D glasses (even regular glasses one might say)

- mood rings

- those new USB drives that look like fashionable necklaces

- that new solar technology that's able to be woven into fabrics

Project 1 after-thinking

posters:

overall setup on top of desks:

individual stations that corresponded to the processes:

I did attempt to take a stance with this project: By presenting a very pro-GM setup that was very accomplishable (as in, you could do it for under $100, very reasonable), I tried to raise the question of to what extent this technology should be used. With the ambiguous nature of the plants, one could also question to what extent modified plants are already present in our environment without our knowing.

Successes:

Compared to my original idea, this was a more visually engaging, interesting setup. Though I was invisible, Katerie did ask if the plants had already been modified (nope). It was nice that the posters were framed, and actually the top of the desks do look a fair bit like lab benches ....

Issues:

All of the instructions appeared intimidating, though with their perusal and some knowledge of biochemistry one would realize that they are actually very easy. I assume too much about what people know about science, I assumed that one would understand that this was a very simple process and be surprised by the accessibility to make their own GM plant from materials ordered off the internet, alas. I should have simplified, made the posters more graphic and visually engaging.

I allowed for the possibility to interact with the setup, providing plates and liquids and plants and so forth, but this was not clear. A clear invitation, more materials, a different setup with instructions apart from the posters by the stations (separated into days of the procedures), having an already-used look that made it clear that someone else had been there would all be ameliorations.

My stance, though I tried to take a very pro-GMO (genetically modified organism) stance to make others more anti-GMO, was, as per usual not actually conveying what I think. A further problem is that I don't know what I think, for the general populace, I work in a lab that modifies various species of plants in interesting ways, so I'm in a very pro-GMO environment at work, and an anti-GMO environment in art school. I didn't know what to do with this junction project-wise, it just meant that I don't have a dry-cut opinion.

Also, following an interesting trend (sarcasm), this project was more science than art. I guess I like science, there's a lot of implied art in the patterns of work people do, like how right now I'm largely employed helping the lab manager extract 200-plus pools of DNA, which will take us months.

The clincher to this project is that there are many reasons why the processes presented in the project would not actually work, the biggest being that the plasmid (the outside-species DNA to give the plant its new trait) given was not designed for plants (so the DNA would never be expressed). Common sense might get you there, but unless you've got a certain amount of genetics knowledge you would not know. So it was about the possibility, because one day it'll probably be like this.

Sigh.

Scent of Sanctity @ Critique

Installation was challenging with just the limited amount of time to install. I needed a little bit more time to get them to hang perfectly.

People enjoyed the peacefulness of the space, especially as it contrasted to the bustling breakfast we had just had upstairs.

Comments for Improvement included:

- making platforms for people to stand on to be closer to the scents

- hanging the halos in a more staggered formation like a triangle as opposed to a line

- having no decoration or staining on the wood since people can't see it very well anyways with the light shining through it and also because the simplicity of the wood is just as beautiful if not more so.

-getting even more elaborate with the designs and the way they fall on the floor.

-making sure I am meticulous when it comes to installation, since people will notice all those aspects and it will detract from the gracious presentation I'm trying to make.

Photos of E-Z

Critical Feedback:

Make plates more inviting

Include ingredients

Word cloud not helpful- be more direct in infographic

two separate pedestals

Ryan did not like the taste of Z's, threw it away

Push it further

The Scent of Sanctity Project Documentation

After doing research (see previous blog entries)

I started by creating sketches in my sketchbook:

Then I began to lay them out in Adobe Indesign:

I colored my vectors red and my rasters blue. Vectors got cut out fully and my rasters got etched in at different depths:

I then laser cut them out in the Fab Lab. It originally took 2 hours to cut out the first one, but I was able to tweak the designs so that it took only about 30 minutes per design. (The photo below is from another project that I also created a different halo design for, but I just wanted an example of the laser cutting process.)

I then altered my original designs so that I could laser cut out my felt inserts.

The raw wood looked something like this when it was cut out:

After staining and adhering different herbs, incenses, and oil infused felt, the the halos were done!

The European Halo (bottom left) had dried rose and jasmine adhered to it, and rose, ylang-ylang, and rose geranium oils soaked into it's felt.

The Indian Halo (bottom right) had sandalwood incense and Tibetan monastery incense (comprised with over 40 herbs) adhered to it.

The Native American Halo (top) had sweetgrass rubbed onto the wood initially, then white sage, aromatic cedar attached to it.

Smell/Tast Project Documentation Info

  

TheCrabsUpdated:

Table with newspapers on it dead crab shells
One alive crab in the middle hanging out
Have sound of the boiling water and the crunching of the shells


Supplies:
Old Bay Crab seasoning
Large Pots (1)
Tongs
Large plastic container
Hammer
Knife
Bowl
Lemonade
Lemon
Lime
Butter

Cook for 10-15 min each, need to cover for boiling

Once the crabs are ready, carefully extract them with long tongs and set them aside to cool. You can start picking out the meat in a few minutes, or you can wait until they cool completely.
You can also store and freeze whole crabs once they are cooked this way. Cooked crabs will stay in good condition for up to a week in the fridge.

Use idea of the disgustingly beautiful such as "The Meatstall" as a guide and reference to food consumption and overwhelming with the smell and sight.

Thoughts on crit

Critique thoughts

Overall I feel I got an extremely positive response from the class. I was nervous starting off my crit, because it took people a little while to begin talking, but with Katerie's facilitation, the conversations began. I especially enjoyed that everyone was participating in our unified conversation rather than breaking off. People were hesitant about sharing extremely personal things, and I guess I didn't expect too much from them, but there were definitely some interesting anecdotes shared.

I'm glad people enjoyed the food and felt stuffed at the end. It's definitely the way I feel after any Jewish holiday. I do wish we had longer for this crit though. People would get into an interest discussion about a certain question posed, but once that got going, we had to move on to the next holiday. Ideally, If I were to do this again, I would want an hour, which would give everyone 6 minutes at each station for the ten holidays represented.

One of my greatest joys recently has been to cook for other people. There's a certain pride and love put into cooking food, and to see people enjoy something like that is absolutely priceless. Even after crit, I brought leftovers to work with me so that my coworkers could polish off my leftovers. One of my coworkers came into my office three times to keep getting food. Natalie even took a break from her work to come over and grab some more food! Later that night, my friend Adam who I had spent this summer in Israel with came over to my apartment for food. Everyone was so excited about it.

I hope that all of my explanation of this piece doesn't detract from the art value. I spent a little time at the end of crit explaining the significance of the questions and what every holiday was. I don't know if that was really necessary, but I do think that it's important to at least explain. I really enjoyed the social interactions that were happening and how people related this experience to their own experiences with family.

I promise I will post some pictures from crit, and Natalie has some footage on her camera as well, but I'm currently on a bus to South Florida and the wifi is extremely slow.

If anybody is ever interested in eating more of my cooking, or even learning how to make some of it, I would be more than happy to impart that knowledge. Also, I meant to mention this at crit, but Passover is coming up this semester and anyone who is interested is more than welcome to come and share this experience with me. It's always a great time, and every year, some of my non-Jewish friends are interested often join the seder and have a wonderful time.

-N.

Slaving away in the kitchen

As promised, here are some of my process photos documenting my hours and hours of cooking!

The mess beings...


Flaky cheese bourekas


Rolling out the hamentashen dough... Yes, that is a wine bottle. I apparently don't own a rolling pin. This was a complete fail. The dough was really sticky and had to go back in the fridge overnight so that I would be able to work with it.


Two challahs before I put them in the oven.


Challah's done.

Finally got to start making the hamentashen. This part went well.


So did this part...
... but not this part. When baked, the hamentashen opened up in the over. Still yummy though.


The latkes drying in gobs and gobs of oil.
The kitchen got extremely hot.
These turned out nice. However, my kitchen still smells like oil. You're welcome.

All the ingredients for the hummus.

I have a whole bunch of photos from crit and the display that I will post later.