Fashionable Technology Research Consortium

MOMA Exhibition: Design and the Elastic Mind

Design and the Elastic Mind @ MOMA
runs until May 12, 2008
New York, USA

If you can make it to the show I  suggest you do. Otherwise I strongly recommend the online exhibition. The likes of James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau (featured in my book) are presented. The exhibition is organized by Paola Antonelli, Curator, and Patricia Juncosa Vecchierini, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

In the past few decades, individuals have experienced dramatic changes in some of the most established dimensions of human life: time, space, matter, and individuality. Working across several time zones, traveling with relative ease between satellite maps and nanoscale images, gleefully drowning in information, acting fast in order to preserve some slow downtime, people cope daily with dozens of changes in scale. Minds adapt and acquire enough elasticity to be able to synthesize such abundance. One of design's most fundamental tasks is to stand between revolutions and life, and to help people deal with change. Designers have coped with these displacements by contributing thoughtful concepts that can provide guidance and ease as science and technology evolve. Several of them—the Mosaic graphic user's interface for the Internet, for instance—have truly changed the world. Design and the Elastic Mind is a survey of the latest developments in the field. It focuses on designers' ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people understand and use.

The exhibition will highlight examples of successful translation of disruptive innovation, examples based on ongoing research, as well as reflections on the future responsibilities of design. Of particular interest will be the exploration of the relationship between design and science and the approach to scale. The exhibition will include objects, projects, and concepts offered by teams of designers, scientists, and engineers from all over the world, ranging from the nanoscale to the cosmological scale. The objects range from nanodevices to vehicles, from appliances to interfaces, and from pragmatic solutions for everyday use to provocative ideas meant to influence our future choices. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

IFAI Advanced Textiles 2008 Conference

IFAI Advanced Textiles 2008
Berlin, Germany
June 12 - 13, 2008

Program: Download 08AT_ebrochure-FINAL250408.pdf

IFAI Advanced Textiles 2008, taking place in the cultural hub of Berlin from June 12.-13 is  conceived as a European-US Networking Conference, highlighting major trends and new  technologies in the field of technical textiles. The overall goal is to create new business  opportunities between US and European companies that deliver or process technical textiles  for various application fields. The unique forum for bilateral talks and meetings shall point the  way for prosperous initiatives towards innovation and cross-section activities in both  continents by fostering co-operations, strategic partnerships and common projects.    

The conference is being supported by major European and US institutions like the US  Commercial Service, the major German association IVGT, ESF, the European Safety  Association as well as ETT, the European Entrepreneur Club of Technical Textiles, to name  only a few. Key note speaker Luis Filipe Girão, Head of Unit, Directorate General Enterprise  & Industry, European Commission is opening the conference. The program is clearly  application-oriented and will bring together industry leaders from all over Europe and the US  to speak about their issues and requirements. Global players like Lenzing and TenCate,  Hollingsworth & Vose as well as small and medium-sized businesses offering special product  solutions and technologies are sharing their innovation processes with the audience. This  concept will foster prosperous bilateral discussions during the 1,5 day event in Berlin.

The conference topics are:
Sustainable product developments for major fabric applications
Nanotechnologies and embedded systems
High-performance textiles for architecture and lightweight structures
Innovative textile applications for advancing protective clothing

Thanks to Isa Hofmann!

Smart Fabrics 2008 Conference

Smart Fabrics 2008
Double Tree Guest Suites Charleston - Historic District
Charleston, SC, USA
May 5 - 7, 2008

Unfortunately I cannot make it this year but I can only recommend you attend this great industry gathering. The conference chairs Stacey Burr from Textronics and Martijn Krans from the Photonic Textiles unit at Philips are doing a wonderful job in initiating the event every year.

In its 4th year running, Smart Fabrics 2008 will bring together innovators and enthusiasts of e-textiles to discuss these challenges and much   more. The event will provide an opportunity for leading developers, manufacturers   and end users of smart fabric technologies to discover and discuss the growth   potential of this burgeoning industry. The conference will focus on the latest   business issues facing the industry, including market size, commercialization   and business challenges, potential for growth, technological advances and hurdles,   application trends, design considerations, and production economics. Special   attention will be paid to the current status of innovative smart fabrics technologies   in the marketplace as well as the potential for future applications and consumer  acceptance.

Who should attend
Smart Fabrics 2008 is designed for CEOs, CTOs, business development   managers, sales and marketing executives, R&D specialists, technology planners,   engineers and those from the finance community who are involved in the development,   design or manufacture of interactive textiles.

 

Isabel Haase - Fashion & Art & Technology

Munich-based Austrian Isabel Haase creates objects, installations, photos. The reference and subtle critique of fashion in Beauties intrigued me and made me curious. Klimator with its use of  technology can easily be regarding as a piece of Fashionable Technology. Lucy Orta seems to have been an inspiration. Kouji Hikawa uses climate in many in his projects.

KLIMATOR (2003/07)
Protective suit, fan, two batteries, charger, straps, headgear

In the case of sudden climate change, there is a protective suit. Where there is strong sunlight and increased warmth outdoors, this light and comfortable suit can be quickly unfolded and put on.  A  small fan is attached to the body of the user with straps and is carried like a backpack.  The device blows air into the suit constantly. The circulating air cools the body.  The fan can be easily switched on or off with a switch on the sleeve.  The headgear offers protection from the sun with a visor protecting the user's face.  The surplus air escapes from openings in the sleeves, the trousers and the collar. A charged battery will last several hours.  A second charge should be carried as well.

BEAUTIES (2006)
Photo

An attractive young lady, wearing a classic „little black dress“, sits in a white lounge in the evening. She is relaxed and sips a whiskey. She appears to be waiting for someone, but, she could also be the subject of a fashion shoot.  She is wearing extremely high pumps in black.  The high heels are pushing her feet forward at such an angle that she can only sit or kneel.  Her body, in the black dress, becomes one line with her long legs, in the black tights, and the black shoes.

ITP Spring Show 2008

As an alumni and fan of the program I can only recommend you make the time to see the

ITP Spring Show 2008

May 12 - 13, 2008
5pm - 9pm

A two-day festival of interactive sight, sound and technology from the student artists and innovators at ITP.

An oversized Greenwich Village loft houses the computer labs, rotating exhibitions, and production workshops that are ITP -- the Interactive Telecommunications Program. Founded in 1979 as the first graduate education program in alternative media, ITP has grown into a living community of technologists, theorists, engineers, designers, and artists uniquely dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactivity in the real and digital worlds. A hands-on approach to experimentation, production and risk-taking make this hi-tech fun house a creative home not only to its 230 students, but also to an extended network of the technology industry's most daring and prolific practitioners.

Take the left elevators to the 4th Floor
This event is free and open to the public
No need to RSVP

Interactive Telecommunications Program
Kanbar Institute of Film and Television
Tisch School of the Arts
New York University
721 Broadway, 4th Floor, South Elevators
New York NY 10003