E-Static Shadows

A group of international researchers, practitioners and scientists conducted a research project 'E-Static Shadows' funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This group was supervised by Professor Janis Jefferies, Director of the Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre for Textiles, and led by Dr Zane Berzina, Research Fellow at CHRRC and Main Investigator on the project.

The 'E-Static Shadows' pilot project explored the speculative arena of electrostatic and its possible readings in relation to human interactions within physical space in order to advance the design knowledge of interactive environments. It studied the possible translations of electrostatic energy into other types of energy such as light, sound and motion using specially engineered intelligent textile systems as mediators and displays for these processes. It aimed to develop new interactive textiles systems capable of sensing static electricity and translating it into audio-visual patterns on the surface of the fabric.

Main collaborators of the project included Jackson Tan, Architect and Designer from the Insquare Lab, London and Dr Andreas Neudeck with a team from the Textile Research Institute Thuringia-Vogtland in Germany. Other Collaborators were Dr Andres Melo, Researcher and Lecturer in Computing, Goldsmiths College and a member of Goldsmiths Digital Studios as well as Dr Natalie Stingelin-Stutzmann, Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London, Department of Materials. The research project was publicly disseminated at the Dana Centre, Science Museum London in March of 2009.