Michel Guglielmi

architect, co-founder, Diffus (DK)

Hanne-Louise Johannesen

assistant professor, Visual Culture, Department of Cultural Studies and the Arts, University of Copenhagen (DK)

Collaborative Communicative Creative Clothing (CCCC) - urban thought and perfomative play

Keywords: social interaction, interactive textiles, performative space

This paper intends to present CC (Costume Choreography) the most recent project developed by DIFFUS DESIGN within the framework of CCCC ( Collaborative Communicative Creative Clothing ) . At DIFFUS, we have been working with the combination of digital media and body, architecture, design objects and landscape. With CCcc the idea is to investigate the relationship between one of our oldest technologies; textiles and one of the newest; sensor technology.

Computer technology can be integrated so seamlessly into textile that it is possible to make them interactive to an extend that they can change character. This means that textile patterns can change shape and colour according to modifications in the surrounding environment. We work with wireless communication devices to retrieve data from the surrounding environment as well as from the audience. Those data will trough change of colour and texture create a visual impact on the costume.

With CC, and trough this paper, we try to investigate and understand what consequences, possibilities and limitations new technology based on interactive textiles have for the scenic expression. We use the scenic environment because it is an easier controllable space, but it is thought as a study before trying to implement it in urban space where everyday clothes and architectural or sculptural forms will be bases of information.

Michel Guglielmi, architect, graduated from the Architecture School of Strasbourg, France. He is teacher at the Academy of Danish Design, institute for Digital interaction Design, where among other he organizes and teaches workshops related to topics like interactive spaces and tangible medias.

Previously, he was an assistant professor at Aalborg University, department of Computer Science and Engineering. At the section "Medialogy", an education for creativity and computer technology, he was responsible for a project classes called "Interactive systems and performance design."

With Hanne-Louise Johannesen, he is Co-founder of the Online magazine "Diffus-magasin ", a magazine about Digital art, design, technology and aesthetics and Co-founder of "Diffus", a Design company allying experiments, events and workshops with a theoretical and experimental approach. Diffus is currently working with embodied medias and interactive textiles applied to choreographic settings as well as interactive textiles applied to commercial products and interior space.

Hanne-Louise Johannesen is Mag. Art. in Art History and assistant professor in Visual Culture at Department of Cultural Studies and the Arts at University of Copenhagen. She is currently teaching in digital visuality in general, besides her research in space body relations connected to theories on the cyborg, identity, space and architecture. She is also a co-founder and director of the project group diffus.dk, which has the online magazine diffusmagasin.dk connected to it. Besides that she has written several articles, arranged workshops at and in collaboration with the Danish School of Design and curated contemporary art exhibitions. The mixture of theory and practise is a goal for her in teaching, workshops and participation in different projects.

In 2008 the department of Art History is going to host the PSi # 14 conference (Performance Studies international) and Hanne-Louise Johannesen is one of the organisers taking care of webpages and organising events (panels, workshops and performances) addressing issues of urbanity and technology.  

http://www.diffus.dk
http://www.diffusmagasin.dk  
http://www.hum.ku.dk/visuelkultur/