V2_ Knowledgebase

Alexander Reeder creates interactive garments, accessories and perfume. He works to enable through projects such as Sophie's Pet, enhance with Dream Jammies and Butterfly Dress, and facilitate with S Ring. Alex explores performative elements of interactive garments with Touched By Strangers.

The Industrial Design course started in 2001 and counts a number of nationalities among its multidisciplinary staff. The emphasis is on ëambient intelligenceí: the design of intelligent products, systems, and services. Over the next couple of years 'ambient care' will receive special attention because health and well-being are among the primary focal areas of both Industrial Design and the TU/e. Because of its broad range of contacts with companies and institutions in Europe and beyond (Singapore, Australia, the United States), Industrial Design is well-equiped to respond to international developments in a pro-active manner.

TWENTY1F (or 21F) is a group of designers, researchers, artists & technologists pushing the boundaries of fashion. We are committed to exploring and documenting the redefinition of the body and society through the hybridization of clothing and technology. 21F features news, events, opportunities, and resources. (www.twenty1f.com is not found by the server anymore, but you can still see a lot of images on Google search.)

Unravel: the SIGGRAPH2006 Fashion Show presents a runway show of innovative and experimental works in computational and conceptual couture, fashion with a social agenda, science-inspired form, and new technologies of material fabrication. Unravel brings together the work of designers and artists from the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia who are seeking to redefine the notion of ‘wearable.’ In the increasingly mobile nature of contemporary life, it has become important to contemplate how the devices we carry and the garments we wear converge into a ‘secondary skin’ which function as an extension of ourselves, in both ability and perception. By using fashion, a medium which has always been associated with self-expression and personal identity, these designers seek to demonstrate how the use (or misuse) of technology and its modes of production have the power to stimulate, delight, and inspire in ways as yet untapped in the fashion world. Gone are the stereotypical bulky cyborg devices; what emerged are garments of beauty, subtlety and elegance in form. Some bring to light important social issues — redefining our notions of personal space, networked environments, and issues of privacy and protection. Others relish in pure delight, reminding us how technology also has the power to enhance our personal relationships and celebrate fantasy and play as part of the human condition.

Valerie Lamontagne is a Montreal-based performance and digital media artist, freelance art critic and independent curator. She received an MFA from Concordia University (Montreal) where she presently teaches in Design and Computation Arts and she is a co-founder of the media arts collective MobileGaze. She is presently a Ph.D. candidate at Concordia University with the Topological Media Lab investigating "Relational and Ubiquitous Performance Art".

Waag Society develops creative technology for social innovation. The foundation researches, develops concepts, pilots and prototypes and acts as an intermediate between the arts, science and the media. Waag Society cooperates with cultural, public and private parties.

Where fashion meets technology WT offers a trailblazing platform for networking and market-ready products: - online through the extensive exhibitor database and up-to-date newsletters - on paper through the trade journal WTnews - offline at various trade shows and at dedicated conferences

"Wearable Technology & Powered Art and Fashion Design" presents latest developments in the area of technologically augmented clothing. The program crosses the disciplines of fashion design, performance art, wearable computing and interaction design. The selected pieces envision a future in which our second skin, our clothes, become relevant element in our social life, in our communication and interaction with others. This is achieved by embedding electronics seamlessly into the textiles. After the miniaturisation of processors, sensors and batteries designers can now use these to create expressive and performative garments beyond the everyday experience.

-Wifi jacket: While I was orignally working with basic light stripes, I ultimately decided to integrate them with a flower motif. This design choice was made to recount the age old story of borrowing from the environment to decorate garments - think floral and animal print patterns. Since Wi-Fi is so prevalent in the environment now, I thought it would be interesting to integrate this representation of a man-made part of our environment into a garment in that same way. In the end design, flowers referencing our natural environment are juxtaposed with technology from the synthetic environment. -'Intimate Controllers' is a platform where video games are played by couples touching each other. The platform consists of two controllers, a bra for the female player and boxer shorts for the male player. Each controller is embedded with 6 sensors placed with varying degrees of intimacy in relation to the body part with which they correspond. Players must pass game levels together and in doing so, game play results in increasingly intimate positioning. The goal of this project was to research and create objects that challenge the traditional notions and orientation of video game play.

Artist, designer and researcher Dr. Zane Berzina, originally from Latvia, is involved in interdisciplinary projects across the fields of science, technology, design and art. Her studio practice and research evolves around responsive, active and interactive textiles, soft technologies, new materials and processes as well as biomimetic practices.