KOBA Uniform
As makers of wearable technology, is it not strange that we have none of our own? At KOBA we propose that technology can be personal and fantastical and yet we have nothing to show for this on ourselves.
So what do I want? I would like to make my process of making more strange. My tools should create a soundtrack to my making, giving the conductive materials I manipulate with them sonic qualities. The movement of my hands, arms and body as it moves through the studio and interacts with tools should become more apparent to me to the extent that I might feel like I’m moving in a different dimension. The KOBA Uniform is a workwear Kittel that makes the e-textile tailor a strange creature indeed.
The KOBA Uniform is part of a Wearable Studio Practice. The idea being that the maker’s tools are tracked in order to capture the motions of making. Both out of an interest to study my own tool use, as well as to be able to add an additional audio/sonified layer to the actions of manipulating material.
Making-of this KOBA Uniform: http://www.kobakant.at/KOBA/making-of-koba-uniform/
materials cost:
techniques:
hours of labor:
First working version. Mapping of tools to OSC messages:
DIGITAL INPUTS
/inputs/digital —> int[0,1]
penholder 1 = osc msg 13
penholder 2 = osc msg 12
penholder 3 = osc msg 11?
penholder 4 = osc msg 10
penholder 5 = osc msg 9
penholder 6 = osc msg 7
scissors = osc msg 15
pins = osc msg 5
ANALOG INPUTS
/inputs/analog —> float[0-1]
crocodile clips = osc msg 16
r arm bend = osc msg 6
WORK IN PROGRESS!
This is a long and growing post to document the process of developing, designing and using the KOBA Uniform item in our opening collection.
Visualization of the sensor data with vvvv:
This summer I tried to do a residency to develop A Wearable Studio Performance that would have the work uniforms of Summercamp participants stream data to a central unit and create a sonic performance – “making” music, “making” noise.
>> http://www.plusea.at/?p=6147
Somehow I am fascinated by the process of making, the act of deciding what to make. Where do ideas come from? I believe we are creatures of re-mixing, we are part of a huge knowledge system, we are not individual geniuses, but rather products of ourselves embedded in our surroundings. One reason why I’m passionate about the idea of open source and DIY are because these concepts require documentation to be done for knowledge to be shared and by capturing process in documentation we’re making visible where inspiration comes from, we begin to feel less like unique, and more like a collaborating collective.
Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation by Richard Sennett:
>> http://www.richardsennett.com/site/senn/templates/general.aspx?pageid=40&cc=gb
Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene by Donna Haraway:
>> https://www.dukeupress.edu/staying-with-the-trouble
This summer I tried to do a residency as part of the E-Textile Summercamp where my plan was to build a set of costumes for a performative making experiment that I wanted to try during the actual Summercamp event. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to bring things together at that time, but I think our shop could be the next opportunity for this idea to be implemented.
Flickr set >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157687239203866
A Wearable Studio Practice
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/collections/72157671954961281/
>> http://wsp.plusea.at/
Anatomy of a Pin
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/collections/72157675157247720/
>> http://www.plusea.at/?category_name=anatomy-of-a-pin
ohmGlove
>> http://www.plusea.at/?p=6134
ohmHook:
>> http://www.plusea.at/?p=5745
Tools We Want
>> http://toolswewant.at/
Adding an extra sense to experience the world differently:
A work uniform for listing to my own making process:
To experience my process, my practice, my tools, my materials differently:
What to listen to:
Style:
Functions
Making Movements
gestures of making
lifting arms (light sensors?)
bending elbows
sitting, standing
leaning forward
temperature
Tools in Use
pincushion “ouch”
continuity meter/multimeter/ohmTranslator
tool holder for long skinny: pencil, tweezers, cutter, ruler
snips
tape measure
thread rack
tape dispenser
crocodile clips (Irene’s)
power supply
Other
contents of conductive trash pochet
Environment
light sensor
temperature
time (since wearing…)
Magnetic Pincushion sensor prototype test:
Pen holder sensor
References/Inspirations
Inspirations/References:
Andy’s Digital Naturalism themes:
– Behavioral Immersion | Creating interactions between computers, people, and nature
– Technological Agency | Creating and documenting open, understandable, and manipulable tools
http://andy.dorkfort.com/andy/digitalnatural/category/pubs/print/
GERontologic Test suit GERT – The age simulation suit GERT offers the opportunity to experience the impairments of older persons even for younger people.
http://www.age-simulation-suit.com/
Neil Harbisson: “I listen to colour”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Harbisson
Theresa Lamb’s work
http://teresaflourlamb.com/cyberknitics.html
http://teresaflourlamb.com/lovelace.html
WEARABLE SOUNDSCAPE by Amor Munoz:
This wearable device is a soundscape. Through movements with the head (using an accelerometer) different sounds and video images are activated.