rhythm exercise

I am a textile designer working in the area of light-emitting textiles. My research interest focuses on the exploration of new aesthetics within cloth investigating the visual effects of movement using light as a continuous, time-based medium. The exhibited artefacts use PMMA optical fibre technology in braided structures, activated by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and using a microcontroller as an interface to realize novel, light-emitting textiles.Rhythm exercise is a part of the research for my doctoral thesis which investigates the following research question: What does it mean, if time and change – constant movement – become part of the textile design expression? The research question has been investigated in a number of experiments which explore the visual effects of movement by using light integrated into textile structures as a medium. Thereby, the textile design pattern reveals its composition, not in one moment of time any more, but in fact over time. My practice based research work aims to create time-based textiles with an emphasis on developing aesthetics of movement – or to establish movement as an aesthetic moment in textile design. (Jansen, 2013)ContextWith the beginning of the era of Smart Textiles, the textile designer is challenged with a range of materials which are characterized by their ability to change expressional and functional properties. These materials respond to environmental stimuli, user interaction and pre-programmed parameters and visualize their responses to the viewer. They open up opportunities to explore new material behaviours and designing with novel and complex aesthetics (Berzina, 2011, Krogh, N.D., Layne, N.D., Taylor, 2010, Wingfield, N.D.). The availability of these new materials changes the conditions of conventional textile design; a textile pattern expression is no longer static, it once had one face, one gestalt or expression, whereas now it can show different expressions, a definite or indefinite number of times. (Jansen, 2013, page 7)InstallationRhythm exercise is an installation based on eight braided structures, displayed in three steel frames. The current exhibition displays parts of this installation. The three-dimensional braided artefacts are each based on thirteen lengths of optical fibres. They are lit by LEDs and programmed to create moving patterns of white light using a microcontroller digital interface. They have been designed to show different qualities of lighting interplay using varying rhythms and speeds.The different braids are created in identical braiding structures and with equal amount of lengths of optical fibres, thirteen per braid. The braided structures have, however, been connected to different numbers of LEDs; braid one has been connected to one light source, braids two to five have been connected to two light sources per braid and, finally, braids six to eight to thirteen light sources per braid. This allows displaying an increasing complexity of moving light patterns inside the braided structures. The installation shows a glimpse of new design possibilities and the potential for creative explorations in the field of light-emitting textiles. Sponsorship:The Swedish School of Textiles and Smart Textiles Initiative at the University of Boras