Making Discussion comes from a desire to be able to use my hands to manipulate matter in order to engage in discussions. Not discussion about the form and function of what is being created, but philosophical, political discussions about abstract topics. In particular I was interested in real-time discussions/conversations that normally take place in spoken language, in shared physical space.

To create an opportunity to experiment with this format, I decided to try and design a kind of work outfit for the maker discussor. A shoulder bag intended to be worn as a regular bag, with pouches for foraging, hunting and gathering materials throughout the day. Similarly to how we pick up ideas, collect thoughts, take notes, this bag is a storage container for material ideas. When the maker discussor enters into a discussion, the bag can be transformed into a tool-apron, a work uniform, a discussion costume. The pouches containing the foraged materials are easily accessible and the rest of the apron contains a selection of tools that can be used for working these materials, manipulating them and producing discussion.

For (no)action(no)space I produced five of these uniforms to allow a group of people to hunt and gather material for ideas and then come together to make discussion.
In the nans space at Schloss Solitude people brought in materials to contribute to the discussion and we also collected materials from outside the Schloss. The Making Discussion was lead by a presentation/narrative, which provided content for the discussion, but also tried to lead the discussion into a making trance. Listening to the talk, handling the materials, concentrating on both making and understanding created the experience. The objects in the end didn’t really get to talk, and it was not clear to me if or how they should have a voice. This discussion was more about shared experience. I want to try it again.

(no)action(no)space

“Siting Around the Same ›Fire‹ in the Digital Age”
>> https://schloss-post.com/siting-around-fire-digital-age/

These are some of the questions that came up for me while planning, making and executing this project:
Can we make with materials as fast as our minds can think? If we have to slow the speed of discussion down to a “makeable” rate, does this change the nature of the discussion? Can we mix makers and talkers in discussion?
Materials are not as abstract, as language. How much influence does the material impose on the conversation?

Sunday December 11th 11-14:00 at (no)action(no)space in Schloss Solitude

Participants are invited to make discussion by building structures from a select palette of materials and tools. The topic for discussion will be introduced in the form of a lecture. The fact that the materials selected for this task reference values that resulted from Bruno Latour’s investigation into our modes of existence, might or might not be important. The tools will be selected for their ability to manipulate and join these materials in a variety of ways and could be unequally distributed among the participants. The discussion will last slightly longer than the lecture, and will end with tea and sweets. Come hungry.

Project page >> http://noactionnospace.org/
Flickr set >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157675729952331

Poster:

Flickr set >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157675729952331

Making-of: Making Discussion

The following entries are marked by date and trace the development of this project. Trying to collect sources of inspiration, communication and events that took place as this project took shape.

7/12/2016

Second Prototype – „let’s stay Mondrian inspired“

Searching the web for constructivist aprons, I come across the collection of Eldina Begic:
multi-pocket-apron >> http://shop.comradettes.com/product/multi-pocket-apron
manifesto >> http://www.comradettes.com/manifesto
>> http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=28348

6/12/2016

First Prototype

The lower part of the bag/apron contains pouches for gathering/gleaning materials as ideas, inspirations, input for discussing. The upper part of the tool apron contains the tools for discussing with.

Laura: „let’s stay Mondrian inspired“, “the white ground is crucial”…

This reminds me of my attempt (and failure) at making the PIFpack inspired by a similar order of lines and colored surfaces…

Constructivist inspired…

But also because order creates a freedom. Andrea Zittel’s organized, optimized, personal spaces and uniforms – where structure on the outside provides for freedom within.

Digital Publication

Notes from the meeting about the digital? publication to accompany (no)action(no)space…

6/12/2016

(foraged)materials(select)tools

instead of focusing on the selection of materials, i’m now more curating the selection of tools/processes for working with materials/matter.

The selection of materials&tools for the discussion toolkit is becoming more and more an e-textile/kit-of-no-parts toolkit. Through the combination of foraged materials with electrical circuit elements, it somehow proposes to explore making electronic circuits. Or maybe just circuits.

JB: I use this word (manifestation / erscheinung != representation / darstellung) with phenomenology in mind, especially embodiment* & collective embodied cognition/thinking
>> http://www.iep.utm.edu/husspemb/

“motility – make freely and responsively”

Making, the Integrated Circuit:

Gramophone and movies were merely the mechanization of speech and gesture. But the radio and TV were not just the electronification of speech and gesture but the electronification of the entire range of human personal expressiveness. With electronification the flow is taken out of the wire and into the vacuum tube circuit, which confers freedom and flexibility such as are in metaphor and in words themselves.” 1955
Edited by Eric McLuhan & Frank Zingrone “Essential McLuhan” Routledge 1997 ISBN 0-415-16245-9 page 273.

“the wheel
is an extension of the foot
the book
is an extension of the eye
clothing, an extension of the skin,
electric circuitry,
an extension of
the
central
nervous
system”
The Medium is The Massage, Marshall McLuhan p 31-40

Once the environment is conceived as mediated, it ceases to be a passive concept and becomes an active one, as Janine Marchessault has pointed out: “Nature in the new cosmic age of the integrated circuit is profoundly technological and technology is natural”
McLuhan in Space: A Cultural Geography by Richard Cavell

For Virilio, when information becomes the “last dimension of space-time-matter”, and computer-generated virtuality is possible, the “far horizon” (beyond which the human eye could not see) becomes a “trans-apparent horizon” and the “mental image of far distances” yields to “instrumental imagery of a computer that can generate a virtual otherworld, thanks to the computing speed of its integrated circuits” (Virilio 1995:143). With increases in processing power and graphic frame rates, and the advent of portable, personal virtual-environment systems, Virilio observes a change in the speed of history: from long-term to short-tern to “real-term”.
Transforming McLuhan: Cultural, Critical, and Postmodern Perspectives by Paul Grossweiler

Feminists must, she proclaims, unite behind “an ironic dream of a common language for women in the integrated circuit.”
“A Cyborg Manifesto” by Donna Haraway

6/12/2016

Definitions

Definitions taken from Wikipedia and Google:

Intercession

Intercession is the action of intervening on behalf of another.
Synonyms: mediation, intermediation, arbitration, conciliation, negotiation; intervention, involvement; pleading, petition, entreaty, agency; diplomacy

Intercession or intercessory prayer is the act of praying to a deity on behalf of others. In Western Christianity, intercession forms a distinct form of prayer, alongside Adoration, Confession and Thanksgiving.

Transistor

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and electrical power.

Semiconductor

Semiconductor devices can display a range of useful properties such as passing current more easily in one direction than the other, showing variable resistance, and sensitivity to light or heat. Semiconductors can be used for amplification, switching, and energy conversion.

Energy Conversion

Energy transformation or energy conversion is the process of changing one form of energy to another form of energy. In physics, the term energy describes the capacity to produce certain changes within any system, without regard to limitations in transformation imposed.

Relay

A relay is an electrically operated switch. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a separate low-power signal, or where several circuits must be controlled by one signal. The first relays were used in long distance telegraph circuits as amplifiers: they repeated the signal coming in from one circuit and re-transmitted it on another circuit. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and early computers to perform logical operations.

4/12/2016

Hunted and Gathered

Materials & Tools spreadsheet >> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VRTYw3eqCRDKbbAfFCZhn_m_OTY8PnszMVn3z0qdlls/edit?usp=sharing

The materials can be hunted and gathered from anywhere at any time. While food shopping in the supermarket you could forage for items that inspire you to build. When visiting a friend, ask them to give you something to include in your materials library. On your walks, gather whatever sparks interest, and go hunting for what you want to have.

JB: Varda’s The Gleaners and I is notable in another regard, as well. In a film about gleaning, Varda recognizes that she is a gleaner. “I’m not poor, I have enough to eat,” says Varda, but she points to “another kind of gleaning, which is artistic gleaning. You pick ideas, you pick images, you pick emotions from other people, and then you make it into a film.”
>> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gleaners_and_I

Foraging pouch

Apron for tools
>> http://vintagecraftsandmore.com/tag/sew-apron/

Fire Hose shop apron
>> http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/product/shop-apron-improved-fire-hose-bib-apron-85021.aspx

Printed apron
>> http://www.stephaniewilkinson.co.uk/swapron.htm

Hunt & Gather Apron Bag by Natalie Purschwitz
>> http://canadiandesignresource.ca/fashiontextiles/apron-bag/

Thing to Thing Project >> http://canadiandesignresource.ca/exhibitions/thing-to-thing-project/

Unisex hairdresser belt tool bag / Hairdresser holster/ Hair stylist apron / Hairdresser gift
>> https://www.etsy.com/listing/128862205/unisex-hairdresser-
belt-tool-bag

Alibaba

Snap Bag
>> http://wuitoki.altervista.org/portfolio/snap-bag/

Apron Bag
>> http://wuitoki.altervista.org/portfolio/the-apron-bag/

Design-A-Bag Competition 2013 >> http://www.arsarpel.com/future-designers-awards/

AMUDO
A bag that can transform from a handbag to a backpack or sling bag.
>> http://www.coroflot.com/lkong/Amudo-State-changing-Bag

Apron Tool Bag
>> http://www.red-dot.sg/de/online-exhibition/concept/?code=829&y=2013&c=12&a=2?code=829&y=2013&c=12&a=2
This tool storage bag unzips into a work apron in which tools can be carried for convenient access during repair work.

1923 Flapper Era Aprons Dust Caps Sewing Reference Book DIY Prohibition Clothing

Skirt Aprons

Gathering apron
>> https://www.vermontapron.com/garden-aprons

Berry picking apron pattern
>> http://sewinghappyplace.blogspot.de/2011/09/berry-picking-apron-tutorial-from-1944.html

Kneeling apron pattern
>> http://sewinghappyplace.blogspot.de/2011/09/be-kind-to-your-knees-kneeling.html

Harvesting bags

2/12/2016

An Inquiry into Tastes

As part of our third White Dinner party, I tried an experiment to get myself more familiar with the 15 modes of existence, and to discuss the idea the inquiry into these modes and their crossings.

I bought a selection of foods from Lidl, making the selection based on the idea of creating sweets. But as soon as we started tasting them in combination it became apparent that it was not going to be about building/constructing sweets, but about describing taste/texture combinations.

Each food was put into a white paper box with the mode description glued to the bottom.

Adding cooked pasta to help make combinations. Not sure this really went anywhere.

3/12/2016

Selecting Materials and Tools

Originally I imagined the selection of materials and tools for the tool kit it to have nothing to do with e-textiles, but now I find myself coming back to these materials because they so nicely allow for a cohort of raw(ish) fibers co-existing with man-made power structures.

Materials

The materials should be abundant resources, although maybe some materials could have scarcity as a property? Is it scarce in the sense of hard to get, or scarce in the sense of unsustainable? And then by abundant do I mean easy to find, or sustainable? The selection of materials should pay attention to sustainability and communicate this property of the materials as part of the kit.
The combination of materials should allow for quick and accessible making of structures/artifacts/mechanisms/circuits so that one can quickly “sketch” an idea. Quickly build an idea. A prototype. But the materials should also provide enough possibilities for endless exploration/expression. Should these materials not be all the materials? Why have a selection?

The selection of materials is made while foraging. What you find, determines what you discuss.

Notes:
– thread/sewing/tension/structures/models/sculptures…
– common/everyday/natural/materials…

Tools

Similarly can the toolkit contain any tool you want? Is the toolkit fixed? Maybe not to the exact tool, but certain tool properties which could be as broad as: additive, subtractive, manipulative…? No, the tool-kit should remain flexible, expanding to the abilities of the maker/wearer. The uniform provides a platform for making discussion, not the selection of materials and tools to discuss with, these are the choice of the maker.

2/12/2016

A Lecture on Intercessors

JB will give his lecture on intercessors – people, artefacts & machines that help us access to otherwise separated plans/dimensions.

Previously his talk titled “Morphogenesis Of The Outside” was followed by “a hands-on workshop with philosophers, dancers and artists discussing about self-reference, ontological bootstrap and high-order feedback while tinkering with electronic textile musical machines.”

Morphogenesis Of The Outside >> https://github.com/jeanbaptiste/paf/blob/master/summer2015/talk/moto.pdf
Oscillator / Resonance / Feedback Circuit Workshop >> https://github.com/jeanbaptiste/paf/blob/master/summer2015/workshop/README.md

He is also thinking about:
“material thinking” (pensée matérielle) which explores embodiment and hands-on practices as a mode of intellectual investigation.
“material ways of thinking” are a *very rich complement* to more abstract and rhetoric based argumentative settings.

11/2016

A first draft of the project description…

I find myself in the blurry midst of these two topics:
– documenting process in real-time
– physical making as a means of communication/discussion

And yesterday came to this rather simplistic proposition:
Latour defines 15 modes of existence (I am just at the beginning of understanding their definitions and crossings). Can these modes be translated into a selection of materials and accompanied by a set of tools, to provide a toolkit for further inquiry?

JB’s response: “in the same vein that a “reading group” triggers a discussion, a “making group” could do the same. but what do we make? … a miniature model / a mock-up / a demo”

A second draft…

I propose a “making discussion”. Making involves materials and tools, so I will put together a set of materials and tools. One representative material for each defined mode of existence. These materials should be abundant resources – drinking straws, napkins, leaves, string, hair, paperclips, paper, bottle tops, elastic bands, pins, gum, coins, magnets…
Tools would be chosen for the ability to modify and work these materials into combined structures.
I imagine a uniform or costume for the “inquirer into our modes of existence”. The uniform contains the tools (similar to a tool belt), and provides space for collecting and organizing the materials. And if not a uniform, then a portable tool-kit. I will make multiples of this uniform/tool-kit and participants will each wear/use one during the making discussion.

How to start a “making discussion”? Can the materials inform the content of the discussion? We could build structures that house our existence. Miniature world models. Homes. Can we talk while we make? Contradictions are a natural starting points for discussion.

Who will participate in the making discussion? Skilled makers, manipulators of material. Is there an audience?

Documentation? Real-time photo documentation via wifi directly from the camera. A camera should be integrated into each uniform – too much for this time. Maybe a central camera mounted above. A designated photo reporter?

Links and quotes:

JB’s slidedeck as a proposal to create a research lab in an art school context:
>> http://web.media.mit.edu/~labrune/talks/fablab-perspectives-l.pdf

Froebel’s Gifts:
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froebel_gifts

Frei Otto’s “Thinking by Modeling” exhibition at ZKM
>> http://zkm.de/en/event/2016/11/frei-otto-thinking-by-modeling

“Leibniz was interested in facilitations of thought processes by technical means and offered the procedure enabling inventors to achieve this objective: Formalisation enables the mechanisation of calculation.”
(http://dreher.netzliteratur.net/4_Medienkunst_Kybernetike.html)

“a transport without transformation”
(http://www.bruno-latour.fr/node/328)

11/2016

Starting to read Donna Haraway’s “Staying with the Trouble”.

Donna Haraway, “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene: Staying with the Trouble”, 5/9/14 from AURA on Vimeo.

10/2016

I forget why, but in looking for information about the book “Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schzophrenia”, I came across these drawings by Marc Ngui. He writes they are methodical interpretations of the first two chapters of the book. These are visualizations of theories and concepts using markers and paper. How could something like it be done in three-dimensional, material form?

>> http://www.bumblenut.com/drawing/art/plateaus/

A while later I see that Haus der Kulturen der Welt is organizing a discussion series titled “Dictionary of Now”. They use an image by Nikolaus Gansterer titled “Theory Casing IV (of the Middle of the Moment)”, 2013.

Dictionary of Now >> https://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2015/woerterbuch_der_gegenwart/woerterbuch_der_gegenwart_start.php
Nikolaus Gansterer >> http://www.gansterer.org/

The original piece by Nikolaus Gansterer does not include the annotating text. I wonder if the text is the written interpretation of the content of the form. The content the form wants to express. His project pages says “Proxemics is the study of how individuals behave in space in terms of proximity-distance. It specifies the distances that people maintain from one another in different situations, thereby communicating with one another non-verbally.”

8/2016

On the Symposionista blog I discover Latour’s video “An Inquiry Into Modes Of Existence”.

For the last half year I have been attempting to read Bruno Latour’s book “We Have Never Been Modern”. Only slowly grasping the idea that after realizing we can not distinguish our time by thinking of ourselves as modern, because what we think of as modernity is not what we are, we are lacking a value system. To (re)create or begin to define our value system, we must first reset.

The video leads me to the digital platform of An Inquiry into Modes of Existence:
>> http://modesofexistence.org/

And the recent ZKM exhibition “GLOBALE: Reset Modernity!”
>> http://zkm.de/en/event/2016/04/globale-reset-modernity
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STn9DLHtoBA

And the book cover:

And to think about how I could add to this discussion through making physical artifacts. The visual representations of modes on the book cover, and the arrangement of their crossings in the triangular chart make these value entities appear tangible. If they were really tangible, what translations could be added to their discussion?

9/2016

This picture taken of an elastic band lying in a puddle on the ground, reminded me of a segmented chart. It captures both separation and overlap of objects, contents, ideas. A random shape by a specific material. Trying to create order, by just lying on the ground.

Tracing the shape and separating the segments to become entities of their own. The overlap can be assigned to part of each segment or remain a segment on it’s own.

The overlap must expand to grow beyond itself.

9/2016

An exercise in adding metadata to images…
I read about DiEM 25
>> http://nala.io/~s/_site/
>> http://diem25.org/

21/8/2016

Symposionista >> http://symposionista.tumblr.com/
Expose >> https://github.com/Jack000/Expose/issues
Symposionista + Expose >> http://nala.io/symposion/

Symposion: group of people come together and each of the person propose a talk but first they would drink, eat, and talk, it is open, no agenda only a conversation space to express thoughts, an incubator to initiate further thoughts.

POSSIBLE OUTCOME: A multi person, multi format, multi layered, multi platform ESSAY (essay means attempt, trial, infinite, polyperspective, collaboratively curated, subjective research, participant-dependant narrative)

MEETING PLACES: BodenSee, Brussels, Nantes, Athens, Stuttgart, Paris, PAF…

>> Flickr set

Our bodies evolved over millions of years to survive an environment shaped by natural forces. We’ve used our bodies to modify this environment, building tools, technology, infrastructure and community to overcome the dangers that threatened our survival. Today our bodies survive the dangers of the built environment we’ve created.

Walls, railings, enclosures, protective clothing, preventive drugs are all there to protect us from physical harm. We live in a world in which it is okay to interact with almost everything. And if not, then we trust that our governing bodies have put laws in place to protect us. Poisonous items will be labeled, slippery surfaces signposted, the radio frequencies from our cellphones will not be cancerous, the plastic encasing our laptop will not be toxic and superglue will not be sold to children.

Yet we seek out situations that take us outside this constrained world of Health and Safety in order to experience danger. Extreme sports are an example of our desire to face the unknown and uncontrollable elements of nature. By facing the possibility of getting hurt, we are forced to make our own decisions.

Dangerous Fur adds an instance of physical harm to our interactions with the built environment. Making our body vulnerable to pain by lining it with a series of mechanical and electrical hairs that can seriously hurt us. Even in the safest of situations it threatens us with danger.

Background

This project proposal emerges from my fascination with how we’ve used our human ability and skill to shape the world around us. In order to do so we developed many hand tools that allowed for a risky process, meaning we could mess up at any point. Machine tools imply a process of certainty, aimed at mitigating such risk. In order to command these certain processes we use interfaces of certainty. Our hands become tools for translating our ideas from mind to computer. Danger is mitigated by Ctrl+Z. Pressing buttons and moving the mouse are entirely safe interactions. The buttons won’t shock us, the mouse won’t nibble at our fingers. There is no danger, no moment of fear. I want to work with these machines on a more risky level. Dangerous Fur is not a practical answer to this desire, but rather a wearable opportunity for dangerous engagements with a very safe world.

Technical Specifications

Dangerous Fur is a man-made fur structure assembled from dress pins, 3D printed textile and integrated circuitry. The link to the Flickr set shows sketches and images of my first prototypes that lead to the idea. I imagine the final design to look much more technical (less steam punk). The fur should be a densely populated material that can be tailored like fabric to produce a series of wearable fur accessories such as gloves, shoulder and leg wraps.
In my current thinking the fur actually consists of two kinds of fur that address different parts of our body in terms of what surfaces we actively use to touch, and which surfaces passively receive touch.

Inner fur: is applied to the inner surfaces of the body such as the palm of the hand and the chest. It is a purely mechanical construction consisting of suspended dress pins pointing towards our skin. Even the slightest pressure exerted on the fur will cause the pins to contact the skin. The amount of pressure required to press the key on a keyboard results in the pin piercing the first layer of skin.

Outer fur: applied to the outer surfaces of our body such as the back of the hand and the shoulder. A fury needle structure made up of dress pins that are internally wired up as electrodes to a circuit that will cause an electric shock to the body when two needles touch because the fur was stroked or brushed against a surface.

Notes

Many “modern” ways of manipulating the built environment eradicate the skill and dexterity of the human hand from the equation. Instead interfaces require our hands only as input mechanisms to translate our human brain capacity into machine language. Dangerous Fur seeks to bring the hand, the body, the sensory organ back into the digital manipulation process.

Our hands are our primary tools for manipulating materials to manufacture. Machine tools move our manual manipulations away from being a risky process, towards becoming more and more certain. In order to translate our intentions into reality using many of the highest tech manufacturing tools such as 5axis mills, laths, knitting machines, looms… our hands play the role of translating our creative abilities from our minds on to computers that will control the machines. The instance of clicking the mouse button or typing on a keyboard are extremely certain interactions. There is no danger, Control z, undo…

The initial ideas for a Dangerous Fur came during a 4-month residency at Autodesk’s Pier 9.

Dangerous Fur

A wearable opportunity for dangerous engagements with a very safe world.
Our bodies evolved over millions of years to survive an environment shaped by natural forces. We’ve used our bodies to modify this environment, building tools, technology, infrastructure and community to overcome the dangers that threatened our survival. Today our bodies survive the dangers of the built environment we’ve created.>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157666161511975

Sharpness?

What makes something sharp != What makes something dangerous

The Science and Engineering of Cutting: The Mechanics and Processes of Cutting
Sharpness and Bluntness Absolute or Relative? Tool Materials and Tool Wear

Its about force multiplication. The thinner the edge, the more the focused the force, and the higher the pressure. At enough pressure, a material will give way. A wedge shape can both multiple the force and drive the material apart, further cutting it. A duller knife has a thicker end, and hence requires more force.
>> https://www.quora.com/What-makes-an-object-sharp-enough-to-cut-Why-can-regular-paper-cut-you-but-not-cardboard

DANGER / OK TO TOUCH

Danger is not something external to ourselves that we can eradicate from our lives.

A pin is a device used for fastening objects or material together. Pins often have two components: a long body and sharp tip made of steel, or occasionally copper or brass, and a larger head often made of plastic. The sharpened body penetrates the material, while the larger head provides a driving surface. It is formed by drawing out a thin wire, sharpening the tip, and adding a head. Nails are related, but are typically larger. In machines and engineering, pins are commonly used as pivots, hinges, shafts, jigs, and fixtures to locate or hold parts. Pins hurt.
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin

The Pin Factory

An 18th Century Pin Factory from the Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, 1751–72.
>> http://platypus1917.org/2013/11/01/adam-smith-revolutionary/

In the first sentence of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith foresaw the essence of industrialism by determining that division of labour represents a quantitative increase in productivity. Like du Monceau, his example was the making of pins.
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_labour

Book I, Chapter 1. Of the Division of Labor: THE greatest improvement in the productive powers of labor, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labor….To take an example, therefore, the trade of the pin-maker;
>> http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/adamsmith-summary.asp

Adam Smith’s pin factory example is an application of his theory of division of labour. Smith argued that humans can ‘specialize’ their skills in order to create greater aggregate human prosperity. The pin factory is a specific example of how labourers can specialize within even menial tasks such as pin manufacturing in order to increase productivity.
>> https://www.quora.com/What-is-so-important-about-Adam-Smiths-pin-factory-example

Adam Smith’s Wealth Of Nations reference to pin making overshadowed the broader significance of this “trifling manufacture”, which had been “very often taken notice of”. Paucelle (2007) traced Smith’s sources to Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopedie (1755), Duhamel’s Arts & Metiers (1761), and Macquer’s Dictionnaire portatif (1766), all detailing the long-established manufacture of L’Epingles (Pins). Smith used these details to illustrate the direct association of the division of labour with sustained increases in productivity, leading to the wider consumption of the “necessaries and conveniences of life”, and, we now know, to unprecedented living standards in market societies.
>> https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/economics/of-pins-and-things

One man draws out the wire, another straightens it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving, the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business, to whiten the pins is another; it is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper; and the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations, which, in some factories, are all performed by distinct hands, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them.

In traditional manufacture, with each man performing all the steps, they would be hard pressed to produce 20 in a day. As described by Smith, the task of making a pin was broken down to eighteen distinct operations, which were all performed by distinct hands. Smith goes on to point out that he had observed small factories of some 10 men who, engaged in the detailed division of labor, could produce some 48,000 pins a day. This would amount to some 4,800 pins for each man, a significant increase in productivity.
>> http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Essays/Braverman1.htm

How It’s Made – Needles & Pins

Others Works

Mona Hatoum’s Pin Carpet

>> http://www.fabricworkshopandmuseum.org/Artists
>> https://www.icaboston.org/art/mona-hatoum/pin-rug
/ArtistDetail.aspx?ArtistId=20816cd7-3ae0-4c7d-9f89-d099ca2f6e94

Bart Hess Metal Fur

During milan design week 2014 dutch fashion / material designer bart hess is presenting a sequel to the installation ‘work with me people’ by MU during dutch design week 2012. for this occasion, hess installed a sweatshop-like intervention where dozens of visitors work on the various textiles for products that are distributed among bart’s international clientele. ‘work with me people’ refers to the discrepancy between, on the one hand, the post-fordian creative industry, and on the other the huge amount of work required to sustain it. the innovative format of the project offers insight into the production process of the couture textiles by hess and invites visitors to take part in making them.
>> http://www.designboom.com/design/bart-hess-work-with-me-people-04-15-2014/
>> https://vimeo.com/82293548
>> http://barthess.nl/wwmp.html

Susie MacMurray’s Widdow and Wax and Pins

>> http://www.susie-macmurray.co.uk/images/garment-sculptures/widow
>> http://www.susie-macmurray.co.uk/images/sculptures/wax-and-pins

The ohmHook is made from a crochet hook mounted on a circuitboard including a microcontroller which measures the electrical resistance between the crochet hook and a crocodile clip connected to the opposite end of the tool handle. The resistance is displayed as the 10 bit reading of the microcontroller’s analog-to-digital converter.

Having the ability to sense electrical propeties of a material as you are manipulating it can allow you to explore it’s potential for creating electronics. Highly conductive materials make good connectors between physically distant electronic parts. Materials with stable electrical resistance can be used to detect location of contact on their surface. Materials with varirable resistance often respond to forces such as stretch, pressure, bend and twist with a change in resistance, and can be used to sense a large variety of physical interactions.
The ohmHook does not have to be used for crochet. Use it to probe and explore all kinds of materials, and to invent new ways of building electronics.

>> ohmHook Booklet
>> ohmHook DIY Page
>> ohmHook Project Page
>> ohmHook Workshop Documentation
>> ohmHook Repository
>> Flickr set

Prototypes:

A vibrating resistance meter for crochet – this crochet hook translates electrical resistance into vibration, making electrical resistance a tangible property of an E-Textile making process. The Ohm Hook allows you to develop an electrical sense for the materials you work with. For example, if you are crocheting stainless steel yarn to make a stretch sensor you can tailor your design to the range of resistance you want because you immediate feedback on the resistance of what you are making.

Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Ohm-Hook-a-Vibrating-Resistance-Meter-for-Crochet/
Flickr set >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157664482745526

The ohmHook is made by cutting and stacking pieces of clear acrylic, and sewing them together with thick thread. The circuitry is contained within the layers of the acrylic and remains visible. To use as few elements as possible, I sought to use materials for both their electrical and material/mechanical/aesthetic properties. For example, the shaft of the crochet hook is itself the negative lead to the coin-cell battery.

MAKE TOOLS, NOT PARTS

The ohmHook is part of a series of tools for e-textile techniques that are motivated by a desire for MORE tools and LESS parts when it comes to building electronics. So many electronic functions are compartmentalized into discrete parts. These parts make up the tool-set of most engineers/designers/makers who build electronics. And while they make it easy and fast to prototype and build electronics, these parts also end up defining and constraining how we make and what we can build. By making tools that allow us to create our own parts, I hope to encourage a greater electronic diversity.

Tools for E-Textile Techniques

A set of tools designed to support a variety of E-Textile techniques such as sewing, knitting and crocheting with conductive threads and yarns. As ambassadors of process, and storytellers of trade, tools have much to say of how we create the things we make. By imagining, creating and using tools designed specifically for the interdisciplinary practice of Electronic Textiles, it should be possible to tell new stories about a new trade.

Seam Ripping Continuity Meter

This seam-ripper has a continuity meter built in. An LED lights up to indicate when an unwanted electrical connection is made between the tip of the seam-ripper and the part of the circuit that you wish to disconnect from. An alligator clip can be connected to different parts of the circuit, so that you can decide where to measure for unwanted continuity. The LED is powered by a 3V coin cell battery. The brighter the light, the less electrical resistance.

Make your own >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Seam-Ripping-Continuity-Meter/

Videos

Vibrating Crochet Hook (Continuity Meter)

This vibrating crochet hook can be used to measure the resistance of a crochet stretch sensor while it is being made. Continuity and resistance can be measured while the sensor is being crocheted. The vibration motor is powered by a 3V coin cell battery. The less resistance, the stronger the crochet needle will vibrate.

Make your own >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Vibrating-Crochet-Hook/

Video

Breadboard Pincushion

This pincushion design has strips of conductive fabric adhered to its surface, so that metal pins or component contacts that protrude through the same piece of conductive fabric are electrically connected. This cushion can be used for prototyping electrical circuits as well as for string pins, needles and components.

Make your own >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadbaord-Pincushion/

Version for microcontrollers

Video

Installation

ohmRipper

>> Photos

All italic text on this page was taken from the Autodesk machine shop basic use manuals, the CNC pathway handbook and the Voxel8 support documentation.

make a mistake
leave the machine
depress the “IN” button with your thumb
the tool advances into the material
the needle is capable of going through your finger
this can and does happen
do not attempt to engage others
if they refuse, accept it graciously
if in doubt, press the button
there are many ways to do moth things
knowing that ignorance can hurt you is essential to cultivating an attitude
detect contact with conductive materials – like a finger
pull the pin only if you’ve committed
the tool path can vary from the theoretically perfect path
insert pin through the locating hole in the stock
parts are not just visual aids, they are structural components
impossible to manufacture
almost anything can be machined
use your hands
NEVER hold work with your hands
foreign material on the outside
feel around the inside
initiated by the operator by pushing a button
control the tip of the tool
accommodate a wide range of materials
using the simulator is not as realistic
repeat the process until you have three or four
make sure your material is sewable
what you don’t know can hurt you

>> Flickr set
>> http://www.instructables.com/id/Manual-Meshing/

the studio provides
infrastructure
shelter
space

outside these walls there are different materials
challenges
new places
improvised spaces
packing to leave should not be hard

as much as the act of making-is a form of creative expression
it’s also a means | of experiencing the world

shrinking tube, ripping seams, sewing circuits, planning projects
with my tools at hand i pay attention to things i’ve never seen before
my tools translate what i can not explain
i learn

my studio provides
infrastructure
shelter
space
and a means of experiencing the world

“Check if your material is sewable” and if not, then make holes in it. Using a soft line (thread) to hold together hard planes (sheet material).

>> Instructable
>> Flickr set
>> Flickr set

>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157683010755086

Dangerous Tilt

Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157682588662945

Dangerous Potentiometer

Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157666744649176/

Dangerous Stroke Gauntlet

Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157669480668304/

Dangerous Stroke Sensor

Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157669478992954/

Dangerous Potential Divider

Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157710659929946

>> https://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=7764

Dangerous Pincushion

Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157689919166502
>> https://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=7107

Many lines penetrating two planes. Displacing the planes through shifting and twisting them causes the lines to move like fur. The lines are straight pins, they are poked through two layers of fabric which are stretched on two separate frames.

>> Instructable
>> Flickr set

Flesh-like silicone tube pierced by 28 dress pins becomes a mesmerizing display of dangerous lashes. The gear shafts and the box housing them are all held together by sewing.

>> Instructable
>> Flickr set

A WEARABLE STUDIO PRACTICE WEBSITE

Now is a perfect time for electrical engineers to become mobile with their practice. It’s not just electronic parts that have become smaller and smaller, but also many of the tools used in electrical engineering (power supply, multimeter, oscilloscope, programmers… ) have become more compact and portable. Many practices closely related to hardware such as software/programming and CAD/design have been liberated from static infrastructures because laptop computers – their primary tools – are powerful and lightweight. Co-working spaces and FabLabs offer temporary workspaces all over the world. There is an awareness of the benefits of local production and site-specific development.

Wearable Studio Collection

A collection of wearable and portable accessories that allow the electronic textile engineer to travel, build hardware on-site, incorporate local craft techniques and resources, experience different cultures, encounter and collaborate with other disciplines and share their skills with others.

The items in this Wearable Studio Collection are in various stages of development, but shall eventually be documented in great detail, so that they can be reproduced by others. I hope to encourage copies, modifications and improvements to these designs.

Body modifications…

>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/collections/72157671954961281/

>> Gloves Documentation

Team: Imogen, Kelly, Tom, Seb, Rachel, Adam, Hannah

Links:

>> MiMu website
>> Dev Blog
>> Kickstarter page
>> Imogen’s Glove Page
>> Making-of x-IMU Gloves
>> Twitter
>> YouTube Videos
>> Flickr Photos
>> Seb’s Glove GitHub

The x-IMU Gloves

This first pair of customized gloves uses custom made version of the x-IMU. Each glove has one x-IMU, 8 bend sensors, an RGB LED and vibration motor.

The DIY ArduIMU Gloves

An Open Hardware pair of datagloves that capture movement and gestures of the hand using the ArduIMU and bend sensors. The gloves can be connected with an FTDI cable or wirelessly using a Bluetooth module. The gloves also include an RGB LED light and a vibration motor for visual and haptic feedback.

These gloves are made from off-the-shelf parts and documented in these step-by-step instructions.

E-Textile Gloves

This is a version of The Gloves that uses conductive and piezoresistive fabrics to capture movement and gestures of the hand in an attempt to build a fully fabric data glove.

MiMu Gloves

Three pairs of this version of the glove were produced in preparation for Imogen’s NIME performance.

Collaborator Gloves

This version of the MiMu data gloves for composing and performing electronic music are in production for a small group of collaborators who continued to support us after our Kickstarter campaign.

>> How To Get What You Want