Saturday, July 31, 2004

Closer: Wearables for a Distant Society and Think of Me Rings by Alison Lewis

The future is in good hands! Take a look at these creations by Parsons student, Alison Lewis.

The Closer projects’ goals are to create wearable interactive art which reinforces values of kindness, fun and play through the action of positive touch. Closers goals are manifested in two technological garments, which inspire playful real-time real-space contact to accentuate the nature of positive touch experiences. Patsy, the touch to sound pullover, responds with silly sounds upon gently hugging or holding the individual wearing the garment, while Filly, the touch to light jumper, uses a visual indicator to represent the number of positive touches or lack there of in an hour. These garments mediate touches in order to show technology’s capacity to spread positive touch interactions between people.

The [Think of Me] T.O.M. rings are in the works for future development. The concept is to connect intimately and instantly with loved ones from faraway. The rings respond to touch and transmit heat and light wirelessly to the other party when activated. They have been showcased on Arte’ TV in Germany and France along with numerous spots on technological blogs such as Mikes List and Smartmobs.
http://a.parsons.edu/~alison/thesis/index.html
http://www.alisonlewis.com/projects/rings.html