Poetic Realism

I am going to join a workshop about OLED, in London. The workshop is part of the OLED Lighting Design Summit. This years focus is on applications, using the unique properties of OLED to open new market areas, securing the future expansion of the Lighting industry and this exciting technology.

What is an OLED?
It is an organic light emitting diode (OLED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compounds which emit light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor material is situated between two electrodes. Generally, at least one of these electrodes is transparent. (Source: wikipedia.)

It is a very thin – paperalike material. It can even be folded. Its properties: thin, transparent, foldable, printable (liquid substanse), homogenous output, unusual appearance, low heat emission and high degree of controllability. That is what I found on the web.
There are several aspect that come with OLED light that pose an interest to a textiledesigner / artist. Its properties makes it possible to include in the very process of making / designing.

OLED and its creative possibilties.
My interest in that material is that I would like to experiment with the weaving technique. To find a way to embedd the material within the textile structure. In its tectonic.

Today´s materialtechnology enables textiles, and the making of textiles, to be more than just that. E-textiles, also known as electronic textiles or smart textiles, are fabrics that enable computing, digital components, and electronics to be embedded in them. Maybe textiles can contribute to create a new form of architecture? The term architextiles is a fusion between architecture and textiles, using textiles tectonic and architectures application. New materials (f ex carbonfiber ) could create a new understanding of architecture, a new shape of walls – and spaces.

OLED is a material that can certainly interact with its surrounding, viewer or architecture. It can lighten up the space. It can be a lightsource, a lamp. Embedded light. Something that could be interesting in terms of lightning, to create a lightsource that is not pointy – like light sources we have today. Pointy light from above. Embedding it into the architecture can deliver a light from the side or from below. Light intensity will be different too, a soft bright (day?) light?

OLED can be, in combination with printing – a decorative element: as an electrolumiscence paper. Maybe the lightemitting substance can be applied on fiber? And later woven and transformed into a 3 dimensional object?

The weaving technique poses for me a fine way to create. To create surfaces that can be transformed through different transformatioal processes into spatial shapes. To create architextiles.

OLED and the aspect of ecology
OLED have a very low energy consumption, and in combination to intelligent electronics they can contribute to sustainability.

OLED used in the arts
The London based design studio made an interactive OLED Installation called “You Fade To Light” in collaboration with Philips. They used the material Lumiblade OLED´s to create a wall of light which reacts to people´s movement. Watch a presentation of the work here. It shows the wall of light in combination with 2 contemporary dancers. “You Fade To Light”.

Another work that explores the artistic possibilities of small OLED displays is the design work by Jason Bruges called Mimosa. Using Philips Lumiblade , networked together in a series of flowerlike modules that open and close in the presence of visitors, like the rapid moving plant – Mimosa. The work was shown at the Milan furniture fair in 2010.

I am looking forward to join the hands on workshop on OLED by E2M Technology. Hoping to learn about OLED, its aspect of ecology and especially how to make an OLED, to get an overview of the material science – how is a OLED made. This is important to understand how to use it in creative products. To twist its appearance, and find ways of embedding it into the weaving / textile. And I am looking forward to be part of the Designer input panel – to discuss the possibilities for OLED. Part of that panel will be Arfon Davies, Associate Director, ARUP, Mark Ridler, Lighting Director, BDP, Steve Philips, Lead Product Designer, ARUP and myself. Visit homepage of ARUP. Visit homepage of BDP .

My interest at the conference will be, besides to look closer on the actual creation of an OLED, where will OLED position itstelf in the sustainable debate?
a – I would like to hear more about the substance. phosphor – how poisonouse (are there excisting certificates?)
b – What about the connection to solar cells. Theme here: energy harvesting, zero carbon houses.
c – What about the relation price – production.
d – How portable / wearable is the technology of OLED?
e – What about the humanitary background, maybe we should check what this technology can do – with case studies – for low developed countries. Like f ex the portable light project by KVA : Kennedy & Violich Architecture. They developed a non profit research project with the aim to deliver renewable power and light to the developing world. it is a portable light unit. simple, versatile, with flexible photovoltaics (solar).

I think the technology of OLED came a long way – but yet the focus lays on objects / design products. Next step could be to open it up for new creative hybrids, for example architextiles.

Another workshop session of the Soft Technology series at the National Academy of the Arts in Bergen / Norway, the write about it at the Future Textile Homepage:
- a working session drawing on the experience and knowledge of the participants. We will experiment with muscle wire/shape memory alloys (SMA) in textiles. Soft Technology is initiated by Hillevi Munthe and is a collaboration between Atelier Nord and ”Future Textiles” at Bergen National Academy of the Arts. The project is funded by The Arts Council of Norway, Nordic Culture Fund and Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts.

Shape memory alloys are metalthreads/wires that can “remember” a given shape. When cold, the wire is relaxes and flexible. When heated to a certain temperature by water, air or electricity, it contracts to the formed shape. Reference: you tube .

The picture above shows a work by Philip Beesley, who is an architect working with the idea of an architecture of geotextiles.
I can really recommend checking out his work, that is certainly contributing to the theme of architextiles. He produces installations using leading-edge technology like the newest materials and materialtechnology, interactive textiles and reflexive and responsive membranes, combined with canvases of interactive systems.
The work Hylozoic Soil / picture above, composed of many repeated units of laser cut plexiglass, with arduino’s powering reactive muscle wire limbs covered inethereal mylar feathers, with some hyper-dermic needles throne in to add that menacing feeling. // text taken from blog n-e-r-v-o-u-s.

My studio with workshop for electronic textiles is now operative. I am equipped with all tools, materials, electronic hard and software, fibers and yarns necessary to create interactive environments, objects and Installations. Weaving chair and spinning wheel help me to combine optic fiber, el wire / light cable, conductive yarns, different kinds of fibers (natural, synthetic, animal, metal ) into electronic textiles, that can carry light and sound. Follow my work via blog, or pay a visit when you are around! Welcome!

Excerpt of Atelier Nord:

During 2010 Atelier Nord, in collaboration with Bergen National Academy of the Arts (KHiB) and the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås carries out the project Soft Technology, which is an area of commitment for Scandinavian competence building and exploration of “smart” materials, electronic textiles and textile electronics. Through a series of work labs, seminars and open workshops the possibilities and challenges which lies in the meeting between professional knowledge, new technology and art practice are being explored. Soft Technology is the first project to introduce e-textile to an audience outside the educational institutions in Scandinavia.
As a natural continuation of the project, Atelier Nord plans a travelling exhibition in 2011. The exhibition will show current international works using or based on e-textiles and e-textile techniques. The exhibition will tour all the Scandinavian countries. First show will be at Galleri Soft in Oslo in April 2011.
Smart materials are responsive and dynamic. They can change colour, shape and size according to the surroundings. Many of them also have the ability to remember their original condition or return to it.
Electronic textiles are textiles where electronic components are incorporated in the textile material, either by seam, weaving, pressure or other techniques.
Textile electronics are textile materials with characteristics corresponding electronics or elctro-mechanic components like weaved circuits, sewn sensors, live threads and fibres, pigments reacting to light, sound, pressure, heat or humidity.
E-textiles are used as a collective term for all the above mentioned.

Sneak preview of my first conductive yarn spinning results. I tried different technics, and different approaches to make them conductive. Some have a thin metal thread core (hidden), some have the metal thread/wire wrapped around the core (very loose coil spinning), some have metal splitters from stuff I found at the scrapyard (special stainless steal scrap yards…), some are a combination of it all. Now I am eager to produce conductive handspunn yarn, with the very thin metal wire I recently received samples for and in thinner quality.

Electric Blue, Material: metal wire core, stainless steal splitters, wool in different color, mohair, turquoise polyester yarnsplitter

Electric Fairy tale, Material: Metal wire core, Metal wire wrapping, baby mohair, wool, turquoise yarnsplitter

Electric Glitter, Material: stainless steal splitter, yarn splitter, mohair, wool / shetland tops / leicester tops / , flax

Electric Jazz, Material: metal wire core, metal wire wrapping, wool / shetland tops, Bluefaced leicester tops

Having absorbed the workshop of spinning and the spirit of Lexi Boeger, I was motivated to get going on my own spinningwheel. It just arrived from germany. It is very old, but still can do! With the aim to produce yarn, that can conduct electricity, and to work with the esthetics of the existing conductive yarn on the market I set ahead. Here you can see the first handspun conductive yarn, well, it is certainly decorative and to beautiful to be woven into something – so I ll keep them around in my studio just as they are and I am quite sure they will find the way in one of my projects.
Material: thin metal wire, grey norwegian wool, mohair, found fishing material

February 24 – 26th 2010 / Electronics with the Arduino
In this workshop run by Scott Fitzgerald (NY) at Atelier Nord, Oslo, I learned about how to translate information from the physical world into digital information with the arduino.
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March 15 – 18th 2010 / Wearable Sound Experiments
I was attending a workshop in Wearable Sound Experiments at Atelier Nord, Oslo run by Hannah Perner-Wilson and Miko Satomi. The workshop introduces basic soft electronics techniques for constructing fabric sensors and wearable circuits.
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