Day 4: (Thu Jan 22, Week 2) Precedent Work Review (Part 2)

Notes for 2026-01-22.

New Assignments

  1. New assignment, due Tuesday: Exercise: Social Medium. Please submit videos to Exercise 3 Shared Folder.

Administrative

  1. Please follow through on laser cutter qualification (IDeATe Laser Cutters).

  2. Please check your door access using your ID.

Agenda

Today will will spend most of class continuing to review your results from Exercise: Precedent Research. (See Exercise 1 Shared Folder.)

  • Please keep your synopsis concise and limit video to short sections which convey the concept.

  • If you are not presenting, please think of questions.

  • Our main objective is to see what ideas we can borrow, as well as expanding our general knowledge of artistic practices.

You were asked to look outside the existing course resources with a special emphasis on outdoor kinetic art installations involving fabric or textiles. Not all of you did this, so if either applies please also address:

  • How does this specific work inform outdoor projects we could potentially make?

Formal Analysis

Looking strictly at the essential kinetic properties of these projects, what have we seen? Here’s a partial list from Tuesday:

  1. Rachel Youn, CLEANSE: freely moving suspended ribbons, motor-driven rigid armature, constant cyclical motion

  2. Elisa Strozyk, Wooden Textiles: semi-rigid structure with a high number of discrete hinges, actuation unspecified

  3. Iris Van Herpen, The Syntopia Collection: wearable fabric with high number of discrete hinges created using textile craft

  4. Behnaz Farahi, Breathing Wall II: stretched membrane actuated with motor-driven semi-rigid tubes, interaction-driven programmed motion

  5. David Bowen, Tele-present water: suspended articulated structure actuated with multiple servomotors, data-driven programmed motion

  6. Skylar Tibbets, Climate Active Textiles: knit fabric embedded with novel actuator fibers, knit hinges and apertures

  7. EJTECH, Folding frequencies: electromagnetic actuation using conductive applique or thread coil circuits, both audio and mechanical timescales

  8. Tomas Saraceno, Particular Matters/Free the Air: tactile vibratory actuation transmitted through steel cable network

Other notable processes not included in this list:

  1. fan-blown fabric

  2. winch-driven lines

  3. hand-driven suspension (e.g. marionettes)

Precedent Work Summary