How we did it

 

Working closely with the designer in both the designing of the dress and in the process of determining how the dress should be experienced was crucial for this project. The dress was a modern take on the swedish folk costume for women. We wanted to give people the opportunity to experience the dress not only with their eyes but with their hands and ears as well. Thus we composed music based on a modern take on swedish folk music as well as sounds from different acoustic instruments, both common and some what rare in swedish folk music. We then integrated both distance-, pressure- and conductivity sensors inside the dress. The data from the different sensors controlled various parts of the music and audio. For example you had to stand close enough to the dress for the music to be heard. If you where to far away the music wouldn’t play. The conductivity sensors let you actually play music on the dress if you touched it in specific parts. Combined this created a multi sensory experience of a piece of clothing that otherwise would have been appreciated only with ones eyes.

 

This resulted in people walking right up to the dress, touching it and getting a feel for the texture in the fabric as well as interacting with it, both passively through the distance sensor and actively through the pressure- and conductivity sensors.