The DXARTS SoftLab is a studio and an online platform whose mission is to examine the role of workmanship in artistic research, to redefine the use of crafting in the post-digital era, and to explore the body as an interface of control and resistance. It is part of the Department of Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) at the University of Washington in Seattle.
This project is part of an ongoing series that explores how biosignals can be represented and interpreted semantically and poetically, as opposed to visually or sonically. Playing with the idea of the body as an inscription device, and especially of the skin as an “open book", Melyza is a display for a galvanic skin response (GSR) sensor that evokes the skin through an origami structure made out of silicon.
Trials and Errors exhibition at Asociatia Salonul de Proiecte in Bucharest, Romania. Curated by Tincuta Heinzel and Hillevi Munthe. Description of the "FM transmitter sweatshirt" prototype by Afroditi Psarra which is presented at the exhibition.
Her Finger is a series of kinetic finger accessories. It presents a hybrid form of wearable objects, which mingles the functionality and sensuality between an ancient Chinese fingernail guard and a modern female stimulator. The two types of finger related objects create this interesting tension between power and pleasure, external and internal, rigid and soft.
The miniaturization of electronic devices has led to the development of what is known as fractal antennas - miniaturized antennas that use an iterative function system to create a fractal element at a reduced size. The term "fractal" was first used by mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975. Mandelbrot based it on the Latin frāctus meaning "broken" or "fractured", and used it to extend the concept of theoretical fractional dimensions to geometric patterns in nature. One of the properties of fractals geometry is that it can have an infinite length while fitting in a finite volume. The radiation characteristic of any electromagnetic radiator depends on electrical length of the structure. By using the property of fractal geometry in antenna design one can increase the electrical length, keeping the volume of the antenna the same.
On December 2017, in the second edition of DXARTS 490B: E-textiles & Wearable studio class, students presented their final project prototypes through a pop-up exhibition at the DXARTS Fablab in Ballard.
On two occasions in the past year, both in May 17th and November 21st 2017 we had the opportunity to host Seattle-based e-textiles pioneer, designer, artist, creative technologist, entrepreneur and writer - Maggie Orth for a guest talk on her work.
On Tuesday, October 31st 2017 we had the opportunity to host media artist and scholar, Kate Sicchio from NYU on a series of talks and workshops on Movement and Wearables, as well as the concept of Choreotopology. Kate works at the interface of technology and performance. By opening a dialogue between how people move and how this may change by engaging with the digital, she aims to create choreography, performative scores, video, programming languages and hacking methodologies.
DXARTS Assistant Professor Afroditi Psarra, PhD, participated at Eyeo Festival with a lecture and a workshop on June 29th, at 10:30am. The festival was held at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, June 26-29.
Festival Website: http://eyeofestival.com/about/
DXARTS 490B is an introductory course to electronic textiles, soft-circuits and wearable technology. It provides hands-on prototyping for physical computing projects that explore the body as an interface of control for interactive environments. The students engage with smart materials, hand-crafted electronics and creative programming with Arduino to design their own interactive wearables. E-textiles and wearable computing can be used in multimedia performance projects, interface or game design, medical monitoring systems, and also as educational tools for people of all ages.
On May 2017, in the context of DXARTS 490B: E-textiles & Wearables for Art & Design, we had the opportunity to host a guest lecture and a mini-workshop with e-textiles practitioner, researcher and independent art curator, Tincuta Heinzel. The lecture was supported by the OLF Lectures Program of Fulbright Commission.
On April 2017, the DXARTS softLab had the opportunity to host e-textiles practitioner Hannah Perner-Wilson from Kobakant for a guest lecture on her work and a mini-workshop entitled Transparent and Dangerous.
On April 2017 Daniela Rosner and the Tactile & Tactical Design (TAT) Lab of HCDE hosted Austrian e-textile designer Irene Posch as an Artist-In-Residency. During her time at the University of Washington Irene Posch presented her work and her collaboration with e-textile designer Ebru Kurbak through the e-textiles research group Stitching Worlds at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Irene and Daniela invited the DXARTS 490B: E-textiles & Wearables students to her talk and a hands-on workshop on making e-textile tools.
