Being a victim of Cinderella and other fairy tales of princesses wearing extraordinary shining dresses, I hope you’ll understand why this particular ‘tech’ news called my attention.
Oh girls! How many hours, or days, or weeks, have we window-shopped for the perfect dress for that special occasion? “What’s his type? Wilting flower? Bright and bubbly? Or smoldering temptress?” – Courtesy of Satine
And here’s the story: Canada-based designer Ying Gao created an interactive dress that reacts to stares. Yes! A “gotcha!” dress because it lights up and moves whenever it detects a fixed gaze.
This project was inspired by Paul Virilio’s teatrise “The Aesthetics of Disappearance” which “considers the motivations and repercussions of a contemporary society fascinated by speed. Speed, or velocity, is understood literally as space (distance) mapped against time (duration), reaching its absolute limit in light, which collapses both space and time…” and you can read more about this here.
The series (NO)WHERE (NOW)HERE is composed of two dresses made of photoluminiscent thread and imbedded eye tracking technology which react with the spectators’ gaze. According to Gao “A photograph is said to be “spoiled” by blinking eyes – here however, the concept of presence and of disappearance are questioned, as the experience of chiaroscuro (clarity/obscurity) is achieved through an unfixed gaze.”
I’ll leave you with this amazing video that shows how these magic dresses behave when heads are turned!
(no)where(now)here : 2 gaze-activated dresses by ying gao from ying gao on Vimeo.
Left me breathless!
Source: Ying Gao
It's really amazing!