Aesthetics and functionality in interactive wearable design
DS.WRITER:
Sophia Throuvala
Central Image: MODULAR BONES™: LIVING STRATEGIES, 2021, HD video, duration 1:10 min | Research & design by Maria Paneta, scientific curation by Ioannis Papadoniou, sound design by NatCase
Maria Paneta is a designer and architect who has studied Architecture in London and Patras. She deals with art in the interactive space and how it can be used in design, and more specifically in the production of wearables. Maria designs and implements wearables made of soft fabrics and smart circuits, which interact with the wearer's body. Inspired by the prosthetics of Rebecca Horn and the bionic works of Stellarc, she explores the border between the familiar and unfamiliar, creating "clothing" that gazes into the future. Based on studies by neuroscientists about the brain's malleability and receptivity during its continuous contact with everything irrational or foreign, she designs by combining functionality, aesthetics and an interdisciplinary approach in works that can be incorporated into the present as well as the future.
Maria Paneta has showcased her works in international and local exhibitions. She has collaborated with the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, where she taught "Interactive Design". Finally, she won a DOMUS award (best of 2016 Design) and 1rst Place in the Athens Digital Arts Festival contest in 2020.
Tell us a few words about wearables. What is your relationship with technology, and how can it tune in with fashion and architecture?
Wearables, in the context of experimental design and art, are extensions of the human body that allow the wearer's body to interact with the built environment and other users. I have always been very curious about how technology can be a tool for exploring the senses. I very purposefully studied interactive forms of architecture and began to study the scale of the body and how it is possible to alter the senses. My references stem from neuroscience, psychology, art and design. Technology is undoubtedly related to fashion and architecture and is now interconnected with human bodies. It is -other than an everyday tool- a bridge to our future selves. According to Rosi Vraidotti, none of us can say with certainty that we are purely human.
SAROTIS: WEARABLE FUTURES, 2016, wearable, HD video performance |Ava Aghakouchak and Maria Paneta, Interactive Architecture Lab, UCL, London | Link: mariapaneta.com
What is the importance of aesthetics and in what way are your creations functional? What are the aesthetic requirements for a wearable that goes beyond fashion or medical prosthetics?
It is very important to give meaning to each work, to ask the necessary questions and collaborate in order to communicate each idea in a substantiated and direct way.
Aesthetics encompass every aspect of the work and its communication to the public, while functionality is not essential. When the concepts that are being explored are based on real data resulting from data harvesting processes and experiments, of course, it is very important to experiment with functional and interactive prototypes.
SAROTIS: EXPERIMENTAL PROSTHESIS, 2016, wearable, HD video, performance | Ava Aghakouchak and Maria Paneta, Interactive Architecture Lab, UCL, London | Link: mariapaneta.com
In "Sarotis", which investigates how one perceives invisible spaces, it was important to use a device that converted spatial data into haptic feedback. So we designed and built (Ava Aghakouchak and Maria Paneta, Interactive Architecture Lab, UCL) an experimental device that combines 3D scanning technology with soft robots. The project also went through an experiment process with this device, where the research question was verified, that is if it is possible to sense invisible spaces using the device.
Even though the wearable could be developed into a product for the visually impaired and for use in limited visibility situations, we decided not to give it the features for such an application just yet. The Sarotis project concerns the big picture of the future of human bodies and their communication through soft interfaces and touch signals.
In “Modular Bones™”, on the other hand, which is a hypothesis about life in the post-Anthropocene era, the approach is theoretical and less based on interactive prototypes. We collaborated with Ioannis Papantoniou (Associate Professor at KU Leuven) for the scientific curation of the project, concerning the future of artificial body parts, and with NatCase who endowed the project with the soundscape of the future. The work is a video, sculpture, soundscape, text, and not so much an experimental interactive device.
MODULAR BONES™: THE KUN, 2021, 3D printing of a recyclable prosthetic | Research & design Maria Paneta, scientific curation by Ioannis Papantoniou, soundscape by NatCase, photography by Yiouli Tsatsopoulou | Link: mariapaneta.com
What is the relationship between the uncanny and the future? Do you think that some of the problems of the future could be solved through advanced media art and speculative design that converses with augmented realities?
I believe that in the post-Anthropocene era, which we are now going through, our life will be very different from what we know so far. We often talk about dystopian scenarios in the future of humanity. What we are actually doing is merely guessing what the world around us will be like. I believe that wearables and technology will evolve to guide and encompass the new living conditions of the future as they have done so far. We are roughly human now and our physiology will continue to be technologically augmented well into the future.
In Modular Bones™, a scenario about habitation in the post-Anthropocene era, the human community is described as a technologically augmented group, retaining human intelligence and experience along with physical functionality with the help of wearables. These wearables, called Kun, are based on an intelligent self-developing system consisting of a set of methods and parts.
SAROTIS: WEARABLE FUTURES, 2016, wearable | Ava Aghakouchak and Maria Paneta, Interactive Architecture Lab, UCL, London | Excerpt from the Harper's Bazaar 150th Anniversary performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Produced by: Hexagon Collective UK, Created by: Tong Zhao, Performer and Choreographer: Anna Hermann, Videography: Mitsuru Isshiki, Costume Design: Xu Zhi, Space Design: Renxiang Li
How does performance art influence your work?
Performance is an important part of my work since the human body is my field of study. The work “Sarotis”, which is a wearable, uses elements of performance art in order to be filmed and communicated to the public. The performance happened in a spontaneous way and was necessary for expressing the idea of experiencing an invisible space through the wearable device we designed and built. Later, we were asked to wear it for a performance to celebrate 150 years of Harper’s Bazaar at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, where it was worn by performer Anna Hermann in their own choreography. I mean to say that the medium of performance is not an end in itself but it’s necessary for experimentation, exploration of ideas and communication.
INTERDISCIPLINARY WORKSHOP E-TEXTILES 2022, Maria Paneta | As part of INTERMIX Residency by the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia: organised and led by ATHR Gallery, performed by Manifesto.
How broad is the field of wearables and interactive design after all?
Wearables and interactive design can be used for a broad spectrum of applications, and one way to approach them through the lens of experimental design and art is through interdisciplinary workshops. I started in 2016 at the Sackler Center of the Victoria & Albert Museum, curated by Irini Mirena Papadimitriou, with a two-day workshop in wearable technology and a one-day course in robotics. I continued this year in Athens with an augmented reality and wearables workshop at Esto Association and an e-textiles workshop as part of the Intermix artist residency in Riyadh, with the support of ATHR gallery and the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia. An important part of the interdisciplinary workshops is communication and experimentation with creators, artists and people interested in interactive design and new technological media.
MODULAR BONES™: THE KUN, 2021, 3D rendering of the prosthetic | Research & design by Maria Paneta, scientific curation by Ioannis Papantoniou, soundscape by NatCase | Link: mariapaneta.com
What is your ambition with wearables, and which sector do you think they can be applied most to today? Do you think there is a "community" of creators to which your work clearly belongs?
Wearables can be applied to the technology industry, smart clothes, and virtual and augmented reality technologies. The line between technology, design and art is now very thin, as they are all interconnected and exchange concepts and practices.
Wearables are the connecting link between human physiology -or what we now consider human- and the ever-changing environment, which is now a merge of artificial, virtual and remnants of the natural. It is up to us to navigate through this unique and ever-changing world, without fear but with curiosity and passion.
Regarding the community, there is a creator community for wearables, it's more limited than in other art forms but definitely interesting. The future of our bodies is certainly inextricably linked with technology and I believe that architecture, design and art are certainly fuelled by new technological developments and evolve through them.
Portrait of designer Maria Paneta by Adriana Gota, 2022
