Lace Sensor Dress (2012)

Anja Hertenberger, The Netherlands

Description

The Lace Sensor Dresses were produced as part of the Lace Sensor Project, a collaboration by Anja Hertenberger and Meg Grant, in co-operation with the Museum de Kantfabriek (Lace Factory Museum) NL.

The Lace Sensor Project explores themes of hand-made versus machine-made work and how handcrafts are reproduced by industrial processes – and vice-versa. It also experiments with the use of different media and techniques to replicate similar styles of textile and decoration. Underlying themes are the value of work, the language and symbolism of textile and craft and the different ways this can be reinterpreted.

Each dress in the Lace Sensor Dress collection is embroidered with a different poem, sourced from antique embroidery samplers. The dresses are plain white, like an embroiderer’s canvas. The poems themselves were chosen because they could be considered as expressing the viewpoint of the embroiderer, something that is not common in handwork. Pressure sensors created from custom-made conductive lace are incorporated into the designs of the dresses at specific positions on the body. When the sensors are pressed, not only is a recording of the poem triggered, but the gesture required to press the sensors evokes the feeling conveyed by the poem.

Medium

Arduino Pro + Adafruit WaveShield, mini amplifier circuits, conductive thread traces, thin copper wire, mini speakers, pressure sensor out of lace with conductive threads, cotton thread, cotton fabric , polyester lining

Techniques

hand crochet lace, machine made lace with conductive thread, hand embroidery, machine embroidery, sewing, soldering

Image credits

http://lacesensorproject.com, Meg Grant, Anja Hertenberger

Photography: Pieter Claessen

Models: Daan Bolwijn, Lisa Randoe, Fione van Wijk