Social
Spaces

On Thursday 11th of March, right after the ‘Stof tot Zorg’-workshop, the fourth edition of PuntKom (“Your textile or mine? A workshop on smart, interactive & social textiles”) took place. This edition of puntKom was on smart, intelligent and social textiles. In two parallel workshops, Wendy van Wynsberghe (BE – Constant vzw – http://bit.ly/csKrsc) and Berit Greinke (GE – http://textileandsound.com/ & http://www.beritgreinke.com/) showed how in their work they each play with smart textiles. Wendy and Berit also allowed the participants to stand in their shoes for a little while by letting them experiment with different tools and materials they use in their own artistic work.

In her workshop Wendy van Wynsberghe showed how playing with “low-tech” textiles can be “high fun”. By sewing and ironing together conducting and non-conducting textiles, the participants were able to create simple buttons with the looks of their own likings. Plugging the self-made buttons into the ‘Arduino’ sound-installation of Wendy, resulted in an orchestra-like performance: each individual button produced an own, characteristic sound. One button sounded like a skidding cycle tire, the other produced the tones of a bicycle bell and yet another button imitated an object being stuck between the spokes of a cycle tire. By putting them together, a musical of short sounds was produced and the listener easily could imagine himself being surrounded by cyclers and bicycles. A similar procedure as Wendy used, you can try out yourself on: http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=48.

Next to the practical part, Berit Greinke’s workshop also consisted of a creative brainstorm. When dealing with smart textiles, Berit likes to address also other senses than only the visual or the tactile. After thinking this topic through, the participants were able to play with the tools she uses in her work, such as an ‘Arduino’-based light scanner. One group came up with a drawing of graphite: by putting little flakes of graphite on a white piece of paper equipped with a sound installation, the participants were able to produce drawings by playing the sounds louder or softer and making the flakes ‘dance’ on the paper. Another group incorporated little wires that produced sounds into a large, rag of textile. When the textile was folded and was being played with, the arrangement of the wires changed, they touched each other and the sounds they made altered.

After wrapping up, drinks and snacks were provided to smoothen the conversations which were kindled by the two, interesting workshops.

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