Topographie digitale is an interactive installation by DataPaulette. This landscape uses electrically functionalized and pleated textiles as sensitive surfaces reacting to touch to interact with a video-projected digital clone of this scenery.
The project is an illustration of hybridization between our scientific discovery and traditional craftsmanship as a “creole” technique, a fundamental subject of research for our collective. We have, in this case, collaborated with the pleating specialist Maison Lemarié and the pleats Lognon, to investigate the combination of augmenting a textile both with new electrical functionality using in-situ polymerization, as well as the new physical affordances introduced by the patterns and textures of the pleated fabric. The pleated fabric, functionalized by this chemical treatment and the electronic system give birth to a material with a mixed heritage which is both technological and traditional, a prefiguration of a potential emerging craft.
The combination of crafts and technologies is an alternative to rethink the place of digital in our society in a more resilient way.
Awards:
Nomination at STARTS Prize 2020 — STARTS (Science, Technology & the Arts) is an initiative of the European Commission, launched under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Its purpose is to support collaborations between artists, scientists, engineers and researchers to develop more creative, inclusive, and sustainable technologies.
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Publications:
De Bie, M., & Briot, A. (2021). Le textile électronique, un savoir-faire créole. Dans MàJ Design, environnements techniques & pratiques exploratoires (p. 29‑32). Cité du design/Esadse.
Ouvrage sous la direction de Gwenaëlle Bertrand, Maxime Favard et David-Olivier Lartigaud.
“MàJ regroupe un ensemble de témoignages, recherches et propositions graphiques questionnant des environnements techniques et des pratiques exploratoires du design.
L’ouvrage se veut un objet réflexif et usuel invitant à découvrir différentes approches actuelles sélectionnées par des experts du design et de ses pratiques émergentes. À destination des chercheurs et des professionnels du design ou des matériaux, il regroupe un contenu inédit et prospectif lié aux problématiques contemporaines et aux réflexions critiques, abordées par des designers et des chercheurs au cœur de ces questions.”
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Audrey Briot, Martin De Bie, Alice Giordani, Leon Denise, and Cedric Honnet. 2021. Topographie Digitale. In TEI ’21: ACM ACM International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction, Feb 14–17, 2021, Salzburg, Austria. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 4 pages. https://doi.org/10. 1145/1122445.1122456
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Abstract:
Topographie Digitale is an interactive installation that illustrates a hybridization between science and traditional textile craftsmanship. It uses electrically functionalized and pleated textiles as touch sen- sitive surfaces for interacting with a video-projected visualization. The pleated fabric, augmented by our custom chemical process, and the electronic sensing system give birth to a material with a mixed heritage that is both technological and traditional, and prefigure an emerging craft. The combination of craft and technology, which gives a creole technique, is an alternative way of thinking about the place of digitalization in our society in a more resilient way.
Topographie Digitale in CyberArts 2020 Prix Ars Electronica. STARTS Prize ’20 Ed. Hannes Leopoldseder, Christine Schöpf, Gerfried Stocker, graphic design by Gerhard Kirchschläger, English, 2020. 256 pp., 500 ills. softcover, 16.50 x 24.10 cm, ISBN 978-3-7757-4761-5, p. 252
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Exhibitions:
Intangibles Losses, part of the conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI) 2021, February 2021 at Art Space 5020 in Salzburg, Austria.
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Ars Electronica 2020, In Kepler’s Garden, Festival for Art, Technology & Society. 9-13 Sept 2020, at JKU Campus, Linz.
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De toutes façons… Design graphique et textile, from October 2019 to March 2020, at Le Signe, Centre National du Graphisme, Chaimont, France.
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They speak about the project:
MIT Media Lab announcing Topographie Digitale at Ars Electronica Festival 2020.
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