Stir It On!; A Wearable Technology Art of Expressing Social Interaction in Public Space

Stir It On!; A Wearable Technology Art of Expressing Social Interaction in Public Space

This art paper describes about ways of creating new artistic expression using technology through the process of researching and creating of a wearable technology art project titled, "Stir It On!" This project was conceived to shed the new light on wearable computing as means of art that can reflect our society and self rather than prior perception of being mainly functional computers. In everyday lives, especially in a crowded urban city like Seoul, many people pass by near and often touch or bump into each other. Through this project, I tried to express these social phenomenon of public space in Seoul into a wearable technology art project. As a result, ‘Stir It On!’ is an interactive skirt that was designed to react to any close encounter on surface of the skirt such as bumping or touching. It emits subtle lights on its surface where it’s stirred by near passing rubs or bumps and fades out gradually. Repeated technological experiments as well as research on special materials like conductive fabrics and thread were necessary in order to design a wearable technology project in a flexible 3-dimensional electronic circuit that is truly "wearable." This paper suggests creative ideas and method for other media artists through the research and creating process of the project. The Research for "Stir It On!" began since 2007 and it was exhibited at "Social Fabrics"in Texas, USA in 2008. Following that, it was featured as one of the wearable technology art projects that dealt with social issues in the article by Susan Ryan, "Social Fabrics: Wearable + Media + Interconnectivity" published in Leonardo Journal.

This art paper describes about ways of creating new artistic expression using technology through the process of researching and creating of a wearable technology art project titled, "Stir It On!" This project was conceived to shed the new light on wearable computing as means of art that can reflect our society and self rather than prior perception of being mainly functional computers. In everyday lives, especially in a crowded urban city like Seoul, many people pass by near and often touch or bump into each other. Through this project, I tried to express these social phenomenon of public space in Seoul into a wearable technology art project. As a result, ‘Stir It On!’ is an interactive skirt that was designed to react to any close encounter on surface of the skirt such as bumping or touching. It emits subtle lights on its surface where it’s stirred by near passing rubs or bumps and fades out gradually. Repeated technological experiments as well as research on special materials like conductive fabrics and thread were necessary in order to design a wearable technology project in a flexible 3-dimensional electronic circuit that is truly "wearable." This paper suggests creative ideas and method for other media artists through the research and creating process of the project. The Research for "Stir It On!" began since 2007 and it was exhibited at "Social Fabrics"in Texas, USA in 2008. Following that, it was featured as one of the wearable technology art projects that dealt with social issues in the article by Susan Ryan, "Social Fabrics: Wearable + Media + Interconnectivity" published in Leonardo Journal.