E-Static Shadows or Weaving an Electrostatic Mirror

Talk by Zane Berzina (London/Berlin/Riga)
13.08.2009. at 7:00pm

How can electrostatic energy be utilized to create poetic and playful interactions with our built environments? Is it possible to visualize or hear static charges? Can a better understanding of interactions between people; people and objects/materials; people and space be provoked using static electricity in creative ways? And what does this all has in common with textiles?

The E-Static Shadows research project explores the speculative arena of electrostatic and its possible readings in relation to physical space and the poetic potential of static electricity surrounding our everyday interactions. By doing so it also advances the potential for technology that allows us to interact with the omnipresent but hidden electrostatic forces. The resulting soft installation registers the amount and intensity of the charges exposed to the sensory electronic textile membrane translating them into a series of transient audio-visual patterns.

E-Static Shadows is an experimental cross-disciplinary research project by designer and researcher Zane Berzina and architect Jackson Tan from insquarelab in collaboration with TITV – Textile Research Institute Greiz in Thüringen, Germany, and the Computing Department at Goldsmiths and Queen Mary University of London.

In her talk at the e-text+textiles Residency Zane Berzina will give an insight into the various research stages, the making as well as the outcomes of E-Static Shadows explaining the ideas behind this project. More information: http://www.zaneberzina.com/e-staticshadows.htm

Zane Berzina is an artist, designer, researcher and academic working internationally on the intersection of design, art, crafts, science and technology. She holds a PhD from the University of the Arts in London; is Professor for Conceptual Development of Materials and Surfaces at the Art College Berlin-Weissensee in Germany; Associate Researcher at the Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles, Goldsmiths, University of London. She is also a Co-Founder and Creative Director of the e-text+textiles (e-t+t) initiative in Riga, Latvia.