Examining the culture of militarization

Carrie Mae Rose’s work is aimed to evoke emotion. Her work includes sculptural mandalas made of confiscated scissors and razors and a proposed necklace constructed out of violet wands (a relative of the Tesla coil).Her projects examine the culture of militarization and its influence on pop culture, education, entertainment, and high fashion.

Her current explorations include a series of interactive costumes titled Wearable Weapons that she's creating through a residency at Eyebeam. Here's what she says she'll be exploring during her time there:

I am planning to build a series of interactive costumes I call Wearable Weapons. I will be testing and collaborating to create at least 2 or 3 collars that use devices called Violet Wands that are placed in a large wearable armature. Violets Wands are sold both to the police department and the S&M community and are generally described as either self defense products or highly erotic electro-stimulation tools. The wands have a variety of intensity levels that do anything from burn to arouse the end receiver. I’m still working out what kind of interactivity the pieces will have, but the working idea is that they will respond both to sound and movement.

I can't wait to see what she creates. Her gorgeous moodboard is certainly intriguing...

Eyebeam intern Katherine DiPierro sat down with Carrie Mae for a conversation on the intersection of technology and vulnerability. You can read the interview here at Eyebeam.

AND...If you want to get invloved with the project, Carrie Mae Rose is currently looking for an intern or collaborator. More info on the opportunity is here.

A Fairytale Fashion Collection Debuts at Eyebeam NYC

[gallery]Fashion technologist Diana Eng of fairytalefashion.org showcases her debut technology-infused fashion collection at Eyebeam NYC. Here's how she describes the collection:

The Fairytale Fashion Collection uses technology to create magical clothing in real life. Electronics, mechanical engineering, and mathematics are used to create clothing with blooming flowers, changing colors and transforming shapes. Research and development for the Fairytale Fashion collection are shared online at FairytaleFashion.org as an educational tool that teaches about science, math, and technology through fashion. Fairytale Fashion was created with the support of Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, the leading not-for-profit art and technology center in the United States. Continue reading on Flickr.

Photos from flickr feature the following projects:

Twinkle Dress and Twinkle Caridgan LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection. Twinkle Dress's removable grey silk chiffon twinkle pad circuit overlays washable black cotton American Apparel dreww. Twinkle Cardigan's removable black wool melton shoulder patches overlay a cotton sweater.

Twinkle Skirt LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection.

Puff Sleeve Jacket Lavender cotton canvas jacket with deployable structure pleated sleeves.

Inflatable Dress Cream silk chiffon, draped over plastic inflatables and white silk flowers.

More on Diana Eng.

Girls hacking footwear

The growing Do-It-Yourself (DIY) culture is a terrific platform for designers to innovate and explore new designs for wearable technology without having to rely on engineers and developers to build proof-of-concepts. Norene Leddy hosted a workshop called Project Walkway at Eyebeam that invited teenage girls to create their own technology-infused footwear. The workshop was inspired by Leddy’s Aphrodite project, which is a DIY kit that allows you to electronically enhance platform shoes.

What’s great about this workshop in additional to using DIY techniques to explore potential designs, is that Leddy aims to introduce teenage girls to electronics and wearable technology by hacking an electronics kit originally targeted to boys called a “Macho Meter”. Here’s how they describe it:

"A foam platform shoe is outfitted with the "Macho Meter," an electronics kit designed for young boys that uses basic circuitry and LED lights. The Eyebeam Center's Girl Eye View program adapted the Macho Meter into a technical fashion statement during the Project Walkway program."

More info can be found on the Project Walkway blog.