67,504 research outputs found
Fit for purpose? Pattern cutting and seams in wearables development
This paper describes how a group of practitioners and researchers are working across disciplines at Nottingham Trent University in the area of Technical Textiles. It introduces strands of ongoing enquiry centred around the development and application of stretch sensors on the body, focusing on how textile and fashion knowledge are being reflexively revealed in the collaborative development of seamful wearable concepts, and on the tensions between design philosophies as revealed by definitions of purpose. We discuss the current research direction of the Aeolia project, which seeks to exploit the literal gaps found in pattern cutting for fitted stretch garments towards experiential forms and potential interactions. Normative goals of fitness for purpose and seamlessness are interrogated and the potential for more integrated design processes, which may at first appear âupside downâ, is discussed
An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form
How well can designers communicate qualities of touch?
This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makersâ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designersâ capabilities
Radio and affective rhythm in the everyday
This article explores the role of radio sound in establishing what I term âaffective rhythmsâ in everyday life. Through exploring the affective qualities of radio sound and its capacity for mood generation in the home, this article explores personal affective states and personal organisation. The term affective rhythm relates both to mood, and to routine. It is the combination of both that allows the possibility of thinking about sound and affect, and how they relate to, and integrate with, routine everyday life. The notion of âaffective rhythmâ forces us to consider the idea of mood in the light of the routine nature of everyday domestic life
Musical Worlds and the Extended Mind
â4Eâ approaches in cognitive science see mind as embodied, embedded, enacted, and
extended. They observe that we routinely âoffloadâ part of our thinking onto body and world. Recently, 4E theorists have turned to music cognition: from work on music perception and musical emotions, to improvisation and music education. I continue this trend. I argue that music â like other tools and technologies â is a beyond-the-head resource that affords offloading. And via this offloading, music can (at least potentially) scaffold various forms of thought, experience, and behavior. To develop this idea, I consider the âmaterialâ and âworldmakingâ character of music, and I apply these considerations to two cases studies: music as a tool for religious worship, and music as a weapon for torture
Habitual reflexivity and skilled action
Theorists have used the concept habitus to explain how skilled agents are capable of responding in an infinite number of ways to the infinite number of possible situations that they encounter in their field of practice. According to some perspectives, habitus is seen to represent a form of regulated improvisation that functions below the threshold of consciousness. However, Bourdieu (1990) argued that rational and conscious computation may be required in situations of âcrisesâ where habitus proves insufficient as a basis for our actions. In the current paper, I draw on a range of evidence which indicates that conscious intervention (including self-reflective sensory consciousness) is required not only at points of crises but also as skilled performers engage in the mundane actions/practices that characterise their everyday training and performance regimes. The interaction of conscious learning and unconscious schemata leads to the development of a reflexive habitus which allows performers to refine and adapt embodied movement patterns over time
Enactivism, other minds, and mental disorders
Although enactive approaches to cognition vary in terms of their character and scope, all endorse several core claims. The first is that cognition is tied to action. The second is that cognition is composed of more than just in-the-head processes; cognitive activities are externalized via features of our embodiment and in our ecological dealings with the people and things around us. I appeal to these two enactive claims to consider a view called âdirect social perceptionâ : the idea that we can sometimes perceive features of other minds directly in the character of their embodiment and environmental interactions. I argue that if DSP is true, we can probably also perceive certain features of mental disorders as well. I draw upon the developmental psychologist Daniel Sternâs notion of âforms of vitalityââlargely overlooked in these debatesâto develop this idea, and I use autism as a case study. I argue further that an enactive approach to DSP can clarify some ways we play a regulative role in shaping the temporal and phenomenal character of the disorder in question, and it may therefore have practical significance for both the clinical and therapeutic encounter
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Time as a strand of the dance medium
Time and space are at the core of our aesthetic experiences of dance performances, yet dance has been frequently categorised as a space-based art. In this paper I revise the choreological perspective developed by Preston-Dunlop and SĂĄnchez-Colberg that conceives dance as an embodied performative art articulated in a multistranded medium (performer, movement, sound, space). I argue that time should be allowed a distinct place in the choreological discourse since its presence is key to the expressivity of a dance piece. I conceptualise the meaning of the time strand and expose how different substrands emerge, connect with others and become expressive in dance performances. My investigation considers in particular the aesthetics of time in live performances in the theatre compared to dances created for the camera, focusing specifically on instances of contemporary transpositions from one context to the other
Intimate bodies and technologies: A concept for live-digital dancing
This thesis considers the relationship between dance and digital media, and
considers a specific type of case regarding this relationship: live and mediated.
My motivation has been to identify and investigate, through practice, some of the
difficulties presented when live and mediated bodies are placed within the same
performance environment. In order to challenge some of the difficulties of what
I consider as the problematic medium of digital dance, this thesis offers an
examination of the ways in which digital media can positively transform the
processes of making movement, and explores how the assimilation of media, as
an integral agent within movement generation, can counter the dominance of the
digital.
Such dominance has been considered using a Practice As Research (PaR)
model, and thus the thesis exemplifies both the creation of, and a deep reflection
on, three works: Shift (2010-11), Betwixt & Between (2012-13) and
Modulation_one (2013-14). Through the development of these works, I have
sought to formally analyze and illuminate how media technologies, and in
particular projection, can enrich the processes for making movement. This has
been done in the context of a proliferation of digital technologies being available
within a studio setting. In particular, the works have been established from the
perspective of the dancer, which represents a specific case study for challenging
the dominance of the digital.
What follows in the written thesis is an analysis of what is a continuing and
emerging practice. The written thesis therefore serves as both a document of the
process and presents an illustration of a methodological approach for generating
synergistic relationships with movement and projection. This relationship is
proposed as a concept for live-digital dancing, which represents the main
contribution to knowledge. The term live-digital advances the idea that a dancer
is neither bound or restricted by either a live or digital construct, rather she is
inspired to move and respond, in the moment of performance, to an unfolding
assemblage of live and digital materials. Significantly, this has been established
through the experiential encounters of the dancer moving with simultaneous
projections of self. Live-digital therefore offers a methodological approach for
constructing digital dance performance environments, which place perception
and experience at the fore
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