Talks by Caroline McMillan
I reconstructed ancient Egyptian unguent cones in December 2019 in Berlin with the fashion design... more I reconstructed ancient Egyptian unguent cones in December 2019 in Berlin with the fashion designer Caroline McMillan. The experiment shows what unguent cones could have looked like in ancient Egypt.
Papers by Caroline McMillan
is a writer, musician, filmmaker and self-taught philosopher from Mexico. His first full feature ... more is a writer, musician, filmmaker and self-taught philosopher from Mexico. His first full feature film, Aimee, has been shown at several international film festivals and is inspired in lacanian psychoanalysis and its discourse about psychosis. His current research is situated in the crossroad of non-standard philosophy, science, and political economy.
Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference Companion Publication on Designing Interactive Systems
Many smart clothing concepts are appearing in research and industry, encompassing disparate disci... more Many smart clothing concepts are appearing in research and industry, encompassing disparate disciplines, inhabiting many forms. However, few situated in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecology. Moreover, adding wireless data processing capability can extend their functionality. Highly stylized, speculative, wearable technology (wearables) garments with technologically augmented function (c.f.[1]) have been difficult to place into a broader social context as fashion.
The mass-market fashion industry maintains complex economic structures globally. In recent years,... more The mass-market fashion industry maintains complex economic structures globally. In recent years, the adverse consequences of commercialisation driven by this system have given rise to innovation in production systems, material cultures, and consumer awareness of waste. Alongside issues of long-term lifespan and ecological impact of wearables (wearable technology), focus on the values and thought processes that shape practices within the clothing sector are under-represented. The integration of emerging wireless technologies in garments heightens this problem. The potential to access, collectively experience, wear, monitor or exploit personal data is only just beginning to be understood. In this paper, the author explores the role value-sensitive design [7] plays to further embed sustainability into wearables ideation. From value-sensitive design, the Envisioning Cards toolkit [5] is employed to guide speculation in the design case of Aura:maton, an Internet of Things (IoT) connecte...
Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, 2020
Aura:maton is a networked, olfactory wearable worn by one dancer in an immersive performance that... more Aura:maton is a networked, olfactory wearable worn by one dancer in an immersive performance that allows audience members to explore ephemeral scent worlds [Fig. 2]. The performance evokes the memory of the smell of fresh rain on dry earth, known as petrichor. A dancer wears an IoT-connected, olfactory-emitting wearable as they navigate a room-scale environment, projecting dynamic olfactory display. Biofeedback through electroencephalography (EEG) sensing enables the dancer to develop direct communication with each of the five scent vials on a custom-made leather harness scent 'minilab'. The minilab is coded to playback the electrical activity of the brain and choreograph an autonomous symphony of scent-induced trails, as the dancer's scented memories drift through the audience.
Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, 2019
The Internet of Things (IoT) [3, 16, 35] is a physical-digital ecosystem of compliant technologie... more The Internet of Things (IoT) [3, 16, 35] is a physical-digital ecosystem of compliant technologies and heterogeneous parts, enabling vast transmissions of data and candid, pervasive presence of things [40]. Fashion, on the other hand, is an embodied practice, an information medium of material, social, cultural, economic and political forces. Many wearables are outfitted to actuate data input sources as a visualised display. However, the impact and rich possibilities of fashion adornment practices for embodied data engagement in IoT wearables design have been overlooked. Introducing computational materials of the IoT to physical properties pushes this virtual system into the physical realm. In this research, an aesthetic criterion of haute couture practices considers the material turn [34, 39]. Design cases of fashion-led adornment style are a promising path to follow in the context of designing wearables for an Internet of Worn Things.
Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice, 2021
In recent times, environmental and psychological threats revive protective dress forms, specifica... more In recent times, environmental and psychological threats revive protective dress forms, specifically the mask. Threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and technological infrastructures of surveillance capitalism, materially shape social realities. This paper explores current doctoral research, the AURA case study, which accounts for the cultural, contextual undercurrents and hidden operations of these threats, and how they refashion wearables practice. AURA is a series of Internet of Things (IoT) connected, olfactory wearables that render sensor-captured data into digital scent display. The author argues that bodies, as the subject of and venue for data extraction, are invested in, and fashioned by, bio-political power structures of systemic surveillance. A critical approach examines how bodies are materially re-crafted by physiological and psychological hazards—proposing an expanded understanding of technology as a bodily matter of the social practice of dress. The focus is to lend ...
Live: scape BLOOM is an Internet of Things connected dress. This paper outlines methods for const... more Live: scape BLOOM is an Internet of Things connected dress. This paper outlines methods for constructing smart fashion for an IoT ecosystem within a framework of new materialism (Barrett and Bolt in Carnal knowledge: towards a ‘new materialism’ through the arts. I.B. Taurus, London, 2013 [1]). I argue the potential for tangible forms of digital entities, such as data, can be observed through material dynamism. Traditional fashion couture techniques converse with digital tools, employing makerism to create the robotic textile embellishment with intuitive real-time environmental data streaming. Data is experienced kinetically through textile surface embellishment to extend its dimensionality. By foregrounding aesthetics and material development in the design inquiry, valuable insights for tangible forms of digital entities are revealed. The technologies of an IoT ecology are used to reconfigure conceptual shifts for user-curated data programs in smart fashion.
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Talks by Caroline McMillan
Papers by Caroline McMillan