Let me see that LED, Hillevi...

Let me see that LED, Hillevi...
Originally uploaded by berzowska

Congratulations Marguerite!!!

IMG_0261
Originally uploaded by berzowska

Jussi, Daria, Jeff, Joey, Wil in Chicago, post Siggraph jury meeting

Jussi, Daria, Jeff, Joey, Wil in Chicago, post Siggraph jury meeting
Originally uploaded by berzowska

Cidziy in FOFA gallery

Originally uploaded by Jess Butler

Marguerite Bromley's Cidziy "sensate tapestry" shown in the REMEDIOS TERRARIUM exhibition
FOFA Gallery, Montreal - 19 March to 4 April 2008

Rhoda, who modeled "Enleon" at Seamless in Boston

Rhoda, who modeled "Enleon" at Seamless in Boston
Originally uploaded by berzowska

Seamless is a fashion event featuring innovative and experimental works in computational apparel design, interactive clothing, and technology-based fashion. each project [re]interprets the conceptual goal of a seamless relationship between technology and fashion. these are real clothes that inspire and provoke.

http://seamless.sigtronica.org

Vincent's "Frisson" necklace (modeled by Natalie Key)

Vincent's "Frisson" necklace (modeled by Natalie Key), originally uploaded by berzowska.

FRISSON by Vincent Leclerc
The Frisson necklace is made of a series of individual beads resembling teardrops. Each bead is adorned with a temperature-changing peltier junction that is controlled by a microcontroller embedded in the bead. Each bead is electrically and computationally autonomous and can decide to become cold, warm or hot on its own will. With such behavior, the necklace produces animated temperature patterns around the wearer's neck, creating an unsettling feeling apparent to shivers.

Vincent looks like a gangster

IMG_3141.JPG, originally uploaded by maroussia.

Vincent Leclerc presented his XS Labs project Accouphene at a recent meeting of Dorkbot in Montreal. I love how shady he looks in this photo, showing our embroidery machine in the background, making soft speakers, "embroidered in the shape of a coil with highly conductive yarns. By pulsing energy through the coils and running a magnet, embedded in the sleeve of Accouphene, over the coils, sounds are generated."

The Skorpions Project

SKORPIONS are a set of kinetic electronic garments that move and change on the body in slow, organic motions. They have anthropomorphic qualities and can be imagined as parasites that inhabit the skin of the host. They breathe and pulse, controlled by their own internal programming. They are not “interactive” artifacts insofar as their programming does not respond to simplistic sensor data. They have intentionality; they are programmed to live, to exist, to subsist. They are living behavioral kinetic sculptures that exploit characteristics such as control, anticipation, and unpredictability. They have their own personalities, their own fears and desires.

SKORPIONS integrate electronic fabrics, the shape-memory alloy Nitinol, mechanical actuators such as magnets, soft electronic circuits, and traditional textile construction techniques such as sculptural folds and drapes of fabric across the body. The cut of the pattern, the seams, and other construction details become an important component of engineering design.

SKORPIONS reference the history of garments as instruments of pain and desire. They hurt you and distort your body the same way as corsets and foot binding. They emphasize our lack of control over our garments and our digital technologies. Our clothes shift and change in ways that we do not anticipate. Our electronics malfunction and become obsolete.

SKORPIONS shift and modulate personal and social space by imposing physical constraints on the body. They alter behavior, by hiding or revealing hidden layers, inviting others inside the protective shells of fabric, by erecting breathable walls, or tearing themselves open to divulge hidden secrets.