Tincuta Heinzel on Interactive Textiles, Reactive Materials, Personalised Mass-Production

On May 2017, in the context of 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.

In her lecture she addressed some of the issues related to the development of electronic and reactive textiles: the impact of digitization for the development of interactive textiles and the robotization of textiles production, as well as on the impact of materials science research on artistic and design practices. She particularly focused on what consists the “revolutionary” character of electronic and reactive textiles and “aesthetics of imperceptibility” of nano-materials. Based on this analysis, she questioned arts and design roles in addressing societal issues and the relationship art, design is maintaining and should develop with science and technology.

In the workshop, we experimented on different ways of controlling foldings. This exercise was inspired by Deleuze's reading for Leibniz (see "The Fold" book). The focus was on geometries of folding and techniques of controlling folding. For that purpose we experimented with silicone, molds, pneumatic and the idea of "soft robotics".