CAROLINE MCMILLAN: Material-aesthetics to ethics: Critical Practice for Sensing Wearables

In recent times, the mobilisation of networked technologies and practices has transformed fashion practice, providing sites to pushback against concerns of facial recognition, wearable sensing and data-connected machine learning. However, the central question of how the social body responds to an always-connected IoT ecosystem unveil more profound challenges in the unfolding of sensing wearables design. In this talk, I present wearable olfactory displays triggered by wirelessly-controlled sensing systems. This series of IoT-connected probes track the progression of electronic wearable models of scent. Under speculative design inquiry, functionality-based and technologically possible objectives shift towards values-explicit design provocation in early-stage technical design development. An analysis of material and ethical encounters in-the-making-of olfactory perception and experiences consider a fundamental impact on fashion style and adornment practices for sensing wearables.

BIO

Caroline McMillan is a research-practitioner currently undertaking a PhD at RMIT University’s School of Fashion and Textiles in Melbourne, where she graduated with a BA honours degree in Fashion Design in 2000. McMillan’s research-practice is an inquiry into multi-sensory input/output for textile interfaces, with an emphasis on textile-based patterns that change according to live data, and materials and design processes not traditionally associated with wearable technology. Employing a speculative design approach to critique and respond to contemporary, contextual issues of the IoT (Internet of Things) ecosystem research interests include; fashion haute couture techniques, experimental perfumery, sensing, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, soft robotics for textiles, values-explicit design. Grounded in close to two decades of professional fashion industry experience, McMillan has developed a deep and thorough working knowledge of fashion and textile design techniques, practices and manufacturing cycles for the industry. This creative, artistic and operational expertise motivates and supports her research. Based in Berlin, McMillan’s artistic work has been exhibited in Germany, the USA and Australia.

—

JASMINE GUFFOND: Listening Back – Sonification and Surveillance

Jasmine Guffond will present her research into sound as a means of inquiry into contemporary digital surveillance. The talk will cover research based creative projects that employ digital technologies, sonification and the aesthetisation of data as a means of fostering discussion around contemporary surveillance technologies as well as producing experimental audio works.

BIO

Jasmine Guffond is an artist and composer working at the interface of social, political and technical infrastructures. Her practice spans live performance, recording, sound installation and custom made browser plug-in. Through the sonification of data she addresses the potential of sound to engage with contemporary political questions. Interested in providing an audible presence for phenomena that lies beyond human perception, via the sonification of facial recognition algorithms, global networks, or internet tracking cookies she she questions what it means for our personal habits to be traceable, and for our identities, choices and personalities to be reduced to streams of data.

Jasmine has exhibited internationally, released records with the Sonic Pieces (2015, 2017) and Karlrecords (2018) labels, received the ‘Working Grant for New Music and Sound Art’ from the Berlin Senate (2016) and is a current PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales Art and Design conducting research into sound as a method of investigation into online surveillance cultures.