Garments that demand physical intimacy/touch.
*Note: Still trying to figure out the language of how to explain this. For now I’ve settled on you and yourself, but it could also be me and myself, one and oneself, them and themself. I think this is an important choice in terms of thinking about the project. This is just a disclaimer to state that I haven’t settled on a certain interpretation… yet.
Despite the fact that it is my first true project for the class, I think my vibrating shirt is actually a decent starting point for my final. [The beginning is simply the beginning of the end?] Because, as I see it now, what I’m primarily interested in is exploring relationships through the use of touch and/or gesture. Or more specifically, physical connections that illicit a reaction. But my main question is whether I should explore the relationship you have with another individual or the relationship you have with yourself.
THINKING ABOUT 2: A hat and a set of gloves configured in such a way that someone has to hold your head in a specific way in order for something to happen. Or a set of shirts where two people have to hold each others shoulders in a stiff middle school slow dance sort of way. Or shirts where the contact point is at the heart. My friend was telling me that it makes a difference on which side you hug someone- if you hug heart to heart it makes you stronger. Or a pair of jumpsuits for a couple where a circuit is only complete when bodies are locked together in a certain way. Or what if someone was your power source/batterypack? Isolating the roles of giver & taker.
THINKING ABOUT 1: I was thinking that it could be about the physical relationship that you have with yourself while still relating to the social relationship you have with others. If I were to use the vibrating shirt as an example, I could outfit it with a sensor that could tell whether or not someone else was in the room, or in close proximity. If it was meant to be a private thing, perhaps the shirt would only work if you were alone. If it were more along the lines of “no man is an island”, despite that fact that it seemed to be a very self-triggered system, the shirt would only have the ability to work if someone were nearby.
SENSORS FOR TOUCH: QProx, force sensors.
OTHER SENSORS: heat, ultrasonic.
But then again, I could see just moving forward with the choices that I made for the shirt. I like something that is very isolating, self contained. I also like the idea of working without a microcontroller – just using a series of extremely simple electronic circuits. So then it’s really just about contact, about closing a switch, about making a connection with yourself.
So what about a jumpsuit that is basically an extension of the shirt? Complete with feet, mittens, and hood, once you were zipped in, the experience would basically be about relating to yourself physically. Connections could be made through holding your head, hugging yourself, holding yourself in a fetal position. It would be soft and flexible, giving you the freedom to move or curl up as you wish. This could be the Comfort Suit. There could also be a different version that somehow encouraged your body to open up through the use of positive feedback.
BASIC DECISIONS TO MAKE:
-real world or not
-one person or two
-sensors or straight on/off circuits
