NEURO KNITTING - by Mar Canet and Varvara Guljajeva

Neuro Knitting is a project that uses an interface that is becoming very popular inside the new media scene: a brain waves reader. I copy the description from their website:

" We have plotted brainwave activity into a knitted pattern. Using a wearable, non-invasive EEG headset, we recorded users’ affective states while listening to Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”, concretely the aria and its first seven variations. The audio was about 10 minutes long and we downsampled each second of the signal coming from the 14 channels of the EEG device. Three main features were measured: relaxation, excitement, and cognitive load.  After recording, those features were converted into a knitting pattern. Hence, every stitch of a pattern corresponds to a unique brain state stimulated by the act of listening. It means the user’s affective response to music is captured every second and memorised in the knitted garment pattern."

This is a nice example on how art can be combined with science and technology. The best thing about it is that the artists created an open source tool that gives a new brain to your knitting machine and makes projects like this one accesible to everyone. The project is called Knitic. 

Workshop at DOX

I was invited to give a workshop about wearable technology at EUNC Conference in Prague. I proposed a workshop to present basic concepts of wearable technology and its possibilities.  We first watched and discussed some selected projects. These projects you can find at the smart clothing.tumblr.com. After getting some inspirations the participants were introduced to a simple circuit design composed by a battery, an led and made out of conductive thread. 

This simple circuit was used in different ways by the participants that had to came up with a creative idea on how to turn on the light. Check the projects on the pics bellow.

e-ansã performed in Dresden (2012)

For this new version I improved the sensors and over clocked the fans. Now they are much stronger and the effect is more visible than on the first version.

I also created the headpiece which is part of a series of headpieces in which I try to simulate a makeup with light. More headpieces coming soon.

more info: www.onascimento.com/eansa.html

Adaptação I e II: Partes (2012)

Adaptation (2012)

Portrait n. 1, n.2 and n.3

new tags!

My new tags are done. I did a laser cut engraved on leather...

Grajaú

Vanessa

It's the thought that counts

It's the thought that counts, 2012.
cardboard and crayon. 75 x 80cm

Blood

Blood (2011)

Foam and needles

Mix Technique. 25.5 X 25.5cm

Price on request: ricardo@popkalab.com

Preço sob consulta: ricardo@popkalab.com

Coroa

Coroa (2011)

Foam and needles

Mix Technique. 25.5 X 25.5cm

Price on request: ricardo@popkalab.com

Preço sob consulta: ricardo@popkalab.com

Camouflage

Camouflage (2011)

Foam and needles

Mix Technique. 26X26cm

Price on request: ricardo@popkalab.com

Preço sob consulta: ricardo@popkalab.com

New frames

Corvo. (2011)

Needle and foam.

Mix Technique. 44 x 29cm

Surveillance. (2011)

Needle and foam.

Mix Technique. 40 x 34cm

Tesoura. (2011)

Needle and foam.

Mix Technique. 30x 30cm

No Title. (2011)

Needle and foam.

Mix Technique. 20 x 16cm

Those are some frames I did last months.

If you are interested on buying let me know ;-)

Price on request: ricardo@popkalab.com

Preço sob consulta: ricardo@popkalab.com

TK Series

I am glad to present my new work called TK-730. This work was made during the Summer Sessions at V2 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was great to have the opportunity to with with Meg Grant, Anja Hertenberg and Leonie Urff.

What happens when senses are cross-wired in the brain? Can data convey different meanings when interpreted as a purely visual object? What other ways of interpreting a single piece of data could there be? This is what the TK Series attempts to explore.

The first machine in our series is the TK 730. This machine converts a piece of information, in this case words, into a knitted code that can be worn. It decodes the typed word and re-encodes it into the pattern of the knitwork in a sort of encryption procedure.

Our starting point for this encoding were the words text and textile. These words share the same origin - both come from the Latin texere, which means “to weave”. From this premise one can observe many things in common between them. A knitted textile work is comprised of lines and points, just like a piece of text. When you tell a story, you follow a thread in a similar way to a thread in a knitted work. It should be continuous and with no breaks. With the TK 730, you can read, see, touch and wear your story.

Exhibition in Bergen (Norway)

Exhibition opening 19. Aug 6pm , concert 6:30pm

Exhibition period 20. Aug – 25. Sept 2011

The exhibition Soft Technology was shown at SOFT Gallery in Oslo in March with four e-textile works by Norwegian and international artists and designers. We thank you for the participation in both the opening and the workshop and concert with Syntjuntan.

On Aug. 19th the exhibition Soft Technology will open again at Gallery 3.14 in Bergen, this time expanded with nine works and a collection of prototypes and samples from participants in the Soft Technology research project. The audience here will be able to touch and pull, make sound and even see and experience how electronic textile works.

The exhibition at Gallery 3,14 in Bergen shows works that takes smart materials, e-textiles and traditional electronics as a starting point in the development of the work. These are works by international and Norwegian artists that take different approaches to materiality, technology and context, and tell different stories. Still they have in common a quest to give the unstable, unknown and unpredictable a form and a visuality, both in content and materiality.

Kristina Aas (NO), Berit Greinke (DE / U.S.), Hilde Hauan (NO), Elin Igland (NO), Kobakant (AT / US / JP), Astrid Krogh (DK), Celine Marq (FR / U.S.), Hillevi Munthe (NO) and Ricardo O"Nascimento (BR).

Soft Technology is a research project on textile electronics in an artistic context, carried out at Atelier Nord in Oslo and the Art Academy in Bergen. Soft Technology is produced by Atelier Nord in collaboration with the Art Academy in Bergen and Gallery 3.14.

Concerts performed on the piece "Mønsterundersøkelser av lyd nr 1" will be played on weekends during the exhibition period.

Wednesday 31 August 5pm book launch of "The Temporary Embassy" by Anders Rubing. In cooperation with KHiB.

Lydgalleriet is also taking the opportunity to curate a sound piece for our Parabol-series in the passage.

Soft Technology is produced by Atelier Nord, more information www.ateliernord.no

Summer session at V2

I will spend this summer developing a project at V2 (www.v2.nl) together with more 3 artists. We are part of the e-textile group, a group of people interested in smart clothes that meets once per month in Rotterdam to discuss and exchange ideas about technology, clothes, materials.

For this project here we are four:

Ricardo O'Nascimento

Meg Grant

Anja Hertenberger

Leonie Urff

All I can tell know is that we are gonna work with knitting machines... stay tuned.

Last adjustments

I am now finishing the dress for the presentation on friday. All the sensors are connected and working. The code in arduino was made by Ben and the fashion design was co-made by Carol Chan. It is nice to involve more people on my artwork and see that everyone is very excited about. Documentations will come soon.

sound amp

I am planing to use these speakers in the dress and create a sort of a pattern with them.

To amplify the signal i am using the following circuit with LM386

fabric Market

Today me and Carol went to the fabric market here in Taipei for a visit to do some research on patterns and colors. It is an old building full of stands. The entire neighborhood is full of shops with fabrics, accessories, stones, ....

we found some nice patterns. We expect to finish the design this week.