Abstract. Here we present three interactive artworks that showcase the abilities of active textured surfaces to enable new qualities of surface interactions. Giving the surfaces different sensing abilities, ways to act and behaviors, then allows us to explore emotional attributes and character perceived by an observer. The three designs reflect artworks emotional perception of the observer and the resulting effects on behavior. The surfaces sense it's surrounding in terms of physical presence by proximity and emotional state based on facial expression. The surface can express its emotion with a change in movement and sound. The three surface designs explore further combinations of textile surfaces, sensors and reactive actuation to draw on the emotion of observers.
The emergence of biodesign opens new ways for textile design and production processes by e.g. using living organisms directly for growing or dyeing textiles. Researchers and designers who engage in such practices often describe their processes as a collaboration with the living. Since maintenance or acts of caring are often fundamental for a successful result, supportive environments for the living are created. However, most of the organisms are only used to carry out a specific task given by the designers' intention, e.g., excreting pigments to dye a piece of silk, and are killed after the successful completion of the "collaborative" project, which is one of the reasons why the anthropocentric perspective remains an integral part of the textile design process. This research aims to challenge the anthropocentrism inherent in textile design methodologies. Drawing from the work of Donna Haraway, in this exploratory paper, I Svenja Keune obtained her PhD with "On Textile Farming" within the ArcInTexETN and recently started her position as a postdoctoral researcher at the Swedish School of Textiles at the University of Borås, Sweden. She received recently an international postdoc grant from the Swedish Research Council for "Designing and Living with Organisms (DLO)". Her research explores textiles as mediators between people and the natural environment, for example by integrating plants into textile structures; another aspect of her research examines the perspectives open up by relating textile design to spatial design, hortitecture, agriculture, permaculture and environmental philosophy.
This research explores the dynamic qualities of plant degradation in textile structures for interior and aims to develop alternative aesthetics, interactions, life-cycles and applications for living with plants by referring to outdoor expressions and experiences. A series of material explorations illustrates the potential of corn seeds in textile indoor applications, focusing on aesthetics and material properties of degradation to create an interplay of texture, structure, form and color. The hybrid textiles refer to Blaisse view on curtains as fluid atmospheres and second skin, challenging the static nature of architecture and reinforcing the dialogue between landscape and interior. Bringing aesthetics of decay into interior spaces not only challenges the nature of materials, it also invites to rethink the aesthetic and cultural bias towards natural processes in interior scenarios.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.