[ISEA2015] Artist Talk: Sasha de Koninck — Garments for Uncomfortable Social Situations

Artist Statement

To create a textile where the entire surface is pressure sensitive for use in a series of garments exploring my body language and social anxieties. Making a pressure sensor involves a sandwiching of conductive and resistive material. And this only allows for the sensors to be placed strategically. The individual sensors then all have to wired up. I would like to simplify all of that. By weaving with a waffle structure and a conductive yarn with high resistance, the entire textile becomes a sensor.
Waffle weave is a very complex and three-dimensional structure. When woven with a conductive material, it can act as a pressure sensor. Having a material where the entire surface is a sensor will allow me to collect and use data from all over the body. When I am uncomfortable, I contort and twist my up my body along with whatever I am wearing. I would like to use the pressure sensitive textile to create garments that can have a sonic response to the twisting up of my body. Having the entire textile as a sensor means that it can respond no matter what I am doing. The textile would allow response on an individual level.

  • Sasha de Koninck is an artist and researcher from Santa Monica, CA, USA. She decided to leave the west coast and all of its wonderful weather to explore the city of Baltimore and the greater east coast to complete her undergraduate education at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She graduated in 2013 with a B.F.A. in fibers, a minor in creative writing and a concentration in sound art. The next leg of her journey led her to the Windy City, where she graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies. She currently teaches Conceptual Clothing at New Roads School. cargocollective.com/sdekoninck