MaireadDambruch-LookingOutwards-1

Incertitudes is a project created in 2013 by Ying Gao that features two kinetic dresses made from white and silver fabric covered in hundreds of dressmaker pins. These dresses are considered to be Technological Art due to the reaction of the pins to the sound of a spectator’s voice. Using voice activation technology, the pins tesselate in response to a specific human voice frequency. This project was a collaboration between designer Ying Gao with aid from Simon Laroche who helped design the robotics that responded to the voices. This project developed custom software that only allowed the pins to wave in the presence of certain sound frequencies, ironically resulting in the pins not responding to creator Ying Gao’s voice pitch. Gao’s theory behind the project stemmed from Lipovetsky’s “Les Temps Hypermodernes” where he states that when the future is unforeseeable, we must be ready to react- referring to the constantly changing environment of the dresses and how they are flexible to their surroundings through their movement. I admire Gao’s project theory because it influences the spectator to be more adaptable and open to new experiences. This projects points to an exciting age where humans are able to converse with their garments as well as what previously were inanimate objects.