Weaving with the Data Glove - From the Cocoon into the Computer and Back Again

We hereby cordially invite you to a press event in the exhibition DAOULA | sheen – West African Wild Silk on its Way. The press event will take place on February 16th, 3.00 pm at the Tieranatomisches Theater and will be accompanied by a live demonstration of the project »MoA Research Prototype 1 | Minimal Machines« with a subsequent discussion of the work. The demonstration involves live work on an architectural structure inspired by the geometric principles of silk cocoons. The researchers are present and give an insight into the materials used as well as the analog and digital tools.

MoA Research Prototype 1 | Minimal Machines

The Minimal Machines project is based at the institutions Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity. Image Space Material«, the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and the weißensee school of art and design berlin and explores augmented reality (AR) assisted design for partially ordered systems (POS) in architecture. MoA research prototype 1 is a first public presentation of this research.

AR is a way to augment the human sensory system with a second layer of digital information—in the case of MoA Research Prototype 1, the digital information consists of tracking the hand-tied nodes in the structure and the movement of the person tying those nodes. Each digitally tracked node is tagged with a spherical marker. The point and movement data is displayed in the screen recording of the building process.

A POS is a system that follows a predetermined order in some respects and not in others. In the case of MoA Research Prototype 1, the basic rules for laying the thread are predetermined, but the exact point coordinates are not. The basic rules of thread laying were developed with the help of a detailed study of the spinning behavior of various species, including West African silkworms.

Research, Concept & Realization

Elaine Bonavia, Jessica Farmer, Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten and Karola Dierichs, 2022.

Participating Institutions

Cluster of Excellence "Matters of Activity. Image Space Material" at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, weissensee kunsthochschule berlin, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces.

Material and Technique Used

Textured yarn, augmented reality (AR) assisted fabrication system, screen recording of the construction process.