In this article I explore a perspective that the philosophical concepts of German phenomenologist Hermann Schmitz (*1928) may open up for thinking about the growing practice of wearing textile integrated electronics directly on the body. It is my contention that traditional conceptions of wearing (non-technological) clothing on the body fail to capture the changed situation and I hence suggest a paradigm shift is needed to think about the novel scope of affects that can be related to body-technology communication. Schmitz’s concepts of the perceptive felt body, corporeal communication and emotions as atmospheres perceived as outside, on or close to the ‘material’ body will be elaborated upon to investigate how they may enhance existing notions of bodily perception and human-technology relations. The case study used for this philosophical investigation is found in the Tactile Sleeve for Social Touch, a wearable created by Elitac, HvA and UTwente, which allows sensations of stroking, tapping and touching to be communicated from one person to another across a distance.
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A decade ago many gushed at the possibilities of 3D printers and other DIY tech. Today makers are increasingly shaking off their initial blind enthusiasm to numerically control everything, rediscovering an interest in sociocultural histories and futures and waking up to the environmental and economic implications of digital machines that transform materials. An accumulation of critique has collectively registered that no tool, service, or software is good, bad, or neutral—or even free for that matter. We’ve arrived at a crossroads, where a reflective pause coincides with new critical initiatives emerging across disciplines.What was making? What is making? What could making become? And what about unmaking? The Critical Makers Reader features an array of practitioners and scholars who address these questions. Together, they tackle issues of technological making and its intersections with (un)learning, art and design, institutionalization, social critique, community organizing, collaboration, activism, urban regeneration, social inequality, and the environmental crisis.
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This article introduces Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concepts of smooth and striated space and couples these with the realms of art and technology. In doing so, and by analysing a case study, the dynamic natures and complex mixtures of art and technology are discussed. As a result, a perspective through which art and technology work together to enable new experiences opens up. The case study consists of Anja Hertenberger’s work entitled InBetween — an ongoing performance project in which she examines the reactions of people to her wearing an item of clothing which features a miniature camera on the front and a screen at the back. The article concludes by arguing that although Hertenberger’s performance concerns mediation, it mainly brings about immediate experiences that can be regarded as ‘imaginings’ rather than imaginations.
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