ATLAS Institute's听Unstable Design Lab, directed by听Laura Devendorf, will听host听its third听experimental weaving residency听this spring to develop techniques and听open-source resources that support collaboration and听innovation across the fiber arts and engineering communities.听New this year, the lab will actively work to grow community at the intersection of craft and technology through inviting interested parties to听.听
The 2023 resident will work with the Unstable Design Lab and other CU Boulder researchers to create samples inspired by challenges faced by engineering researchers, including spacesuit design, integration of power harvesting diodes, reusable textile structures for zero-waste manufacturing, and听structures that dynamically fold and unfold to support mechanical structures or soft robotics. The resident will have听access to the lab's听TC2 digital jacquard loom; other weaving, spinning and knitting equipment; traditional and novel weaving materials; programming support for some custom software needs; the fabrication facilities available at the听ATLAS Institute;听motion-capture and high-end audio equipment in the听B2 Center for the Media Art and Performance; and exhibition space to showcase work at the end of the residency.
First and second听residency
The Unstable Design lab received more than听200 applications in 2019 for its听first experimental weaving residency, ultimately selecting听Sandra Wirtanen. Due to听the pandemic, the residency did not occur in 2020 or听2021. The听next residency began in January 2022 with selected weaver听 producing听instructional materials related to woven structure and its potential applications to engineering research. Due to unforseen circumstances, Sandry's residency paused in the winter and will resume this听fall.
The large number of applicants for the residency reflects a growing interest in the relationship between textiles and emerging technologies, says Devendorf, who co-founded the initiative with听Steven Frost,听faculty director of the B2 Center for Media, Arts & Performance.听
This听residency is supported by a grant from the Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design, a nonprofit organization based in Asheville, NC, dedicated to advancing the understanding of craft by encouraging and supporting research, critical dialogue听and professional development.听
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Publications
Laura Devendorf,听Sasha De Koninck, and听Etta Sandry. 2022. An Introduction to Weave Structure for HCI: A How-to and Reflection on Modes of Exchange. In Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS 鈥�22), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. 629-642.听听(June 13-17, 2022鈥擵irtual Event, Australia)听[Best Pictorial Honorable Mention Award].
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Laura Devendorf, Katya Arquilla, Sandra Wirtanen, Allison Anderson, and Steven Frost. 2020. Craftspeople as Technical Collaborators: Lessons Learned through an Experimental Weaving Residency. In听Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 鈥�20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�13. DOI:听(Honolulu, Hawaii (virtual)鈥揂pril 25-30, 2020)听[Honorable Mention Award].
