Our clothes and accessories are our primary interfaces with the world around us. In the 21 st century, the technology that lives in our pockets or in our bags has changed dramatically. Today, the interactive systems that can be found almost constantly in our clothes are so close to our body that they sometimes actually feel like a part of us. Electronic devices are getting tinier and can be bought ready-made for any purpose. Power-supply solutions are smarter and wireless technologies allow communication without cables. Wearable technology is becoming widely used in healthcare, care for the elderly and wellness, in the military, in workwear and sportswear for added security or performance characteristics, in sci-fi and fantasy movies and big-arena entertainment, and in award shows or pop concerts for its spectacular visual eff ects. Through technological advances, the most innovative designers and artists re-evaluate the very basic premises of a dressed body, such as weight, scale and texture or movement. They demonstrate that design is not just about the visual: clothes can also be stimulating to touch, hearing, smell and taste. Wearable technology can turn clothing into a multi-sensorial experience and make it drift between categories. Wearable technology can be perceived as a body architecture, a second skin, nonmaterial clothing, a personal scenography or display, a body extension, an interactive or emotional garment, etc. Some of the most important examples of wearable technology were analysed in this research. They were divided into three diff erent categories according to a garment's principal technological concept or function as it relates to material and external and internal stimuli, such as movement, light, sound, touch, sight, smell, taste, biometrics and emotions. It was concluded that garments act as a bridge between visual, physical and perceptual experience, and provide the wearer and onlooker with a kinaesthetic, proxemic and haptic experience. Since the late 1990s, many projects devised within the fi eld of fashionable technology have a strong performative connotation, as they move, change shape, or emit light, sound or scents. It wasn't until the last decade, however, that Wearable technology designers really began to explore the potential of clothing as social interaction, emotional sensing and biomimetics.
This research report discusses the creation of a costume for the spectator that stimulates sensorial experiences of internalized feelings. Under the project title Sense my Thoughts, we constructed two wearable prototypes: one for the performer and the other one for the spectator. Wearable electronics embedded both in the performer’s and the spectator’s garments allow the spectator to become directly connected with the performer’s emotional experience through costume. This enables the spectators to identify with the onstage character through a personal connection and immerse themselves in the performance on a multi-sensorial level. The goal of our practice-as-research was to design wearables that measure and transmit the performer’s biometric data in a sensorial format, which the spectator would be able to feel on/in their own body in real time. We assembled one garment that captures performer’s input data, such as brainwaves, heartbeat and breathing, and interpret them as different emotional states. We then connected it wirelessly to another garment that we named the spectator’s costume, which receives the performer’s data and activates hidden vibrational motors, speakers, heaters and coolers as various combinations of physical stimuli. In this article, we focus on the latter garment and explain how the spectator’s costume can become an agent of the wearer’s empathic engagement through stimulating the suggestion of the performer’s embodied experiences. The work presented here is still in an early stage of development and, therefore, the conclusions are based on small-scale prototype research.
Luminous skins are interactive light-costume hybrids that reimagine the boundaries of the performers’ physical bodies, broadcast their feelings and alter environment. They are the central element of a performance that requires no stage space, no fixed lighting, no wall outlets and no lighting technicians. The performers manage to dance through the darkness with the light they wear. The costumes are equipped with sensors and actuators and communicate wirelessly and in real time with other scenographic elements. Together, they form a swarm-based scenography that involves close coordination between the performers and responsive technology to create visually dynamic and immersive atmospheres.
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