Divided into 3 sections, the 1st part of the exhibition was Conceptual Couture. A collection of clothing made by designers and artists.
The second part of the exhibition was the Aesthetics of Science: the impact of scientific research and discovery has on garment structure, fabric and surface decoration. The only downside of this part of the exhibition, was the fact a lot of the textiles were made with some sort of light, from LED's to electroluminescent cables, and the Gallery is so bright, it was hard to get the full impact of the pieces. IT was interesting to see new types of fabric, and new methods of creating garments.
The third part of the Exhibition was Fabric Laboratory. From laser-cut and embroidered fabrics from the catwalk, to the use of thermal insulation made for and by the Space Industry. They also had fabric made from Guinness, and another from fermented wine. The living garment, silk coloured with fungi, creating different shades of orange, was bizarre. The experiment of victim-less leather, using biotechnology to create Leather-tissue from mice and human cells was more freaky.
TechnoThreads End of Exhibition Party
A members only- evening of wine, and performance, that started out slowly but ended up with a bang.
This is Katherine O'Malley from the Rex Levitates Dance Company. The raincoat (designed by Shirley Coyle) is embedded with sensors that monitor air and rainfall quality. As I watched the performance, I kept expecting to see something happen to the coat, for it to light up or something. Everything in this exhibition seems to light up, but it didn't, and the wine was calling so I left this performance. (Not really my thing). When I looked a few mins later, however, and she was just finishing, the Jacket was lit up, and I missed it.
After this performance, was another performance by the same company, but was three women wearing sound activated graphic equaliser t-shirts. These have to be seen to be believed, and the performance looked great. The picture below is Stomp, street dancers Rob Dias, Amy Allen, and Lorna also wear the graphic equaliser t-shirts. they did a great job of getting the crowd going, by dividing the room into three, and making each group make a different sound. which they performed to.
Justine Doswell, performs with a new gesture device which controls sound, through the movement of the hand. Its part of the Celeritas Project, a research project between two universities, Cork and Limerick. It wasn't as impressive as I expected it to be, her performance was good, but I think the glove let her down. What I wanted to get was a photo of the garment in the glass case. This is part of the biotechnology section, and its silk with fungi growing on it. All the orange you see is a living organism, and the dark spot is an actual fungus, brown mushroom shape growing from the neckline of the dress.
Finishing off the night is Mundo Capeoira Ireland, and impressive display of dance and martial arts. their shirts are supposed to be made of smart materials, developed by wearable technology designer Tara Carrigy. I think their movement was supposed to change the backdrop, but it only changed maybe twice. The performance was to good to be noticing the backdrop anyway.
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