TechTech
A technological working session presenting a set of diverse textile media investigations that consider the complexities of advanced technology textile construction and design. This panel explores the implications of the  goodVPN strategies on architecture and space, body as site, and textiles as tactile interfaces for new-media explorations.


Time: 02/15/2017: 1:30PM–3:00PM
Location: Gibson Suite, 2nd Floor (Media Lounge)

Chairs: Carissa Carman, Indiana University Bloomington; Mat Rappaport, v1b3, Columbia College

SPEAKERS
Sean Ahlquist, Dr. Ing.(expected 2017), M.Arch.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Marianne Fairbanks, MFA
University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI

Valerie Lamontagne, Ph.D.
Concordia University, Quebec, Canada


SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Sean Ahlquist, Dr. Ing.(expected 2017), M.Arch.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
http://www.materialarchitectures.com

Sean Ahlquist, M.Arch.Sean Ahlquist is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. He is a part of the Cluster in Computational Media and Interactive Systems which connects architecture with the fields of material science, computer science, art & design and music. His research and course topics are centered on material and spatial computation, developing articulated material architectures and modes of design which enable the study of spatial behaviors and human interaction.

Ahlquist’s research formulates computational design frameworks where materiality functions as an primary agent in the organization of architectural systems and their spatial tectonics. In particular, the research explores  and develops new technologies in highly articulated textile and composite materials. Research is developed through the use of a large-scale industrial CNC knitting machine; part of the FabLab at Taubman College.  This highly advanced manufacturing technology enables great depth of research into the composition of hybrid yarns, intermingling of knit structures, and shaping of seamless manifold forms. Ahlquist’s research agendas include the design and fabrication of pre-stressed lightweight structures, innovations in textile-reinforced composite materials for aerospace and automotive design, and development of tactile sensorial environments as interfaces for physical interaction. These intensely collaborative streams of research involve professors, students, researchers and professionals from a diverse array of fields. The materials-based research relating to textiles and textile-reinforced composites involves collaboration with aerospace engineering, structural engineering, and material science.  In the development of sensory-responsive environments addressing challenges which face children with autism, the interdisciplinary research involves psychiatry, kinesiology, music, performing arts technology, information and human interaction, computer science and practitioners in the field of autism therapy.


Marianne Fairbanks, MFA
University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
https://www.mariannefairbanks.com

Marianne Fairbanks, MFAMarianne Fairbanks is an assistant professor in the Design Studies department at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA from the University of Michigan (BFA).  Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in venues including The Museum of Art and Design, NY, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago,  The Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, and Museum London, Ontario.  Fairbanks is a founding member of Mess Hall, an experimental cultural space in Chicago, and co-founder of Noon Solar, a small business that made wearable solar technology to charge personal electronics. Her current work is focused on the intersections of weaving, mathematics, and technology, and she is conducting collaborative research with a chemist to create a solar textile, you can read the paper on  their site Vinylcuttingmachineguide.


Valerie Lamontagne, Ph.D.
Concordia University, Quebec, Canada
http://www.3lectromode.com

Valerie Lamontagne, Ph.D.

Valérie Lamontagne is a Montréal artist-designer, curator, and PhD scholar researching “Performative Wearables: Bodies, Fashion and Technology” at Concordia University where she teaches in the Department of Design & Computation Arts. She is the owner & designer at 3lectromode, a wearable electronics atelier and founder & director of the upcoming Fashiontech Festival in Montreal. She is also co-owner of the *Synapse wearables startup based in Montreal and Tokyo with Alexander Reeder from Art&Program.

She has curated design and media arts exhibitions and events such as: “Tech-à-porter,” MUTEK IMG, Montréal, Canada; “The Future of Fashion is Now,” Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2014); “TechnoSensual,” Museums Quartier, Vienna (2012); “Clothing without Cloth,” V2_Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam (2011); “Electromode” at the the Vancouver Winter Olympics (2010); “Ellipse: L’art sur le web,” Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2002); and “Location/Dislocation,” New Museum, New York (2001).