(prototype) Jerszy Seymour, Milan, Italy
The table is directed by remote control!

Boston…

The “F+R Hugs (Hug Shirt) is a shirt that allows to exchange the physical sensation of a hug over distance.” Check out this project by cutecircuit! Another example of the use of technology to replace the missing link/sense when living physically separated… Is there out there a research/project to encapsulate the sense of smell?

A must see/read/RSS-feed: “a research blog about network-enabled performance“
Surf, navigate, the digital flow will lead you to FibreCulture Issue 6 entitled Mobility, New Social Intensities, and the Coordinates of Digital Networks; FibreCulture is “A peer reviewed journal that explores the issues and ideas of concern and interest to both the Fibreculture network and wider social formations.”

Japanese designers have “redefined our Western conception of dress and have asked us to accept Eastern methods of garment construction like that of the kimono, in which full widths of fabric are stitched together and not cut into as they are in Western tailored clothing.” [1] What does it have to do with mobility? A clothe made of one a full width of fabric inspires me to think about clothings that are flexible, that can be a scarf, a skirt, or a blanket. These are light and transportable, as they are shrunk, folded, pleated, heat set… Creases, holes, seams and folds are beautiful. They are perfect for the contemporary traveler. Minagawa Makiko, the textile designer whose stoles are in display at the MFA has closely collaborated with Issey Miyake. “Miyake’s vision and Minagawa’s experiment led to the Pleat Please collections, which remain popular today.” [1] It is a collection that fits many body shapes (they expand elegantly)! Minagawa mixes tradition and new technology. Her “knowledge of textile techniques and how they affect the way fabrics drape and fold makes her work unique and is the basis for HaaT, her clothing line.”
Still, like Issey Miyake, she believes in industrial process. The A-POC (A Piece of Cloth) line of Issey is paradoxically unique (strong authorship) and standardized: “overlength sweaters, dresses off the roll—‘a-poc’ is based upon Miyake’s first design concept, a piece of cloth, is a new and unique suggestion for everyday life, which goes far beyond the boundaries of fashion. It is made using an industrial knitting or weaving machine programmed by a computer. This process creates continuous tubes of fabric within which lie both shape and pattern. The customer cuts sleeves and skirts exactly to the length he wants.” [2]

[1] Contemporary Cloth, Stoles by Minagawa Makiko, Exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA October 7, 2005 to July 9, 2006; brochure

[2] http://www.designboom.com/eng/funclub/apoc.html accessed February 6, 2006

Exhibit at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA

So this is a contribution of my friend Jie-Eun: a toy she has found in Korea… Check the video clip! What is this?
Call your friend (or in this case Jie-Eun calls the traffic report) and the bear amplifies the voice/tone of the one/service/machine you call… it moves as well! Very funny, a little sweetness in this world of brutes… ;)

Check this: http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/

Follow links and find the RemoteHome project by Tobi Schneidler (smartstudio) which is (I quote interactive architecture dot org) “A flat share that will exist in two distant cities at the same time: London and Berlin. Both spaces are electronically connected through the Internet, to turn furniture and architectural elements into tangible and sensual means of communication. Sensory and kinetic devices, as well as an interactive light installation allow for the exchange between this remotely living group of friends. A mobile wireless artefact, in the shape of a transforming interactive bag, can be taken on journeys to stay emotionally in touch with the RemoteHome.”

The RemoteHome project website!