Digital Threads: Textiles, Art, Technology
John Dalrymple, Textile Museum of Canada, Canada
Patricia Bentley, Textile Museum of Canada, Canada
http://digitalthreads.ca
Digital Threads is an interactive Web environment created by the Textile Museum of Canada that highlights new digital artworks by Canadian artists Jennifer Angus, Joanna Berzowska, Kai Chan, Ruth Scheuing and Samuel Thomas. Internationally known for innovative work that challenges the boundaries of conventional textile arts, these five artists define new territory on the World Wide Web with dynamic projects that link to 50 exhibitions and thousands of textiles from the Textile Museum of Canada. In this interactive new media project art and technology are fused. Technology is not only used to deliver the content but is woven into the very fabric of the artists’ creative process. An example is Joey Berzowska’s responsive textile ensembles of the future that will not only change to camouflage stains but display the subtleties of the wearer’s mood. "I want to be able to control how aggressive my dress appears" says the artist.
This interactive project also has a studio for visitors to create their own digital work with components and concepts borrowed from the five artists - experiment with pattern, colour, shape, time and meaning. Digital Threads also provides access to 17 years of the TMC’s exhibition programming. 50 past exhibitions are sorted into five themes: Myth and Science, Textiles in Everyday Life, Clothing and Communication, Moving across Cultures; and Nature, the Environment & Weird Materials. Explore these pages publicly available online for the first time and experience the creativity of more than 180 contemporary artists. Digital Threads will also make a growing number of the Textile Museum’s permanent collection available online with high detail zooming interactivity. The TMC has thousands of artifacts available in our publicly accessible database. Visitors are able to explore the collection of the TMC 24 hours a day, from anywhere in the world.
Background on new media projects from the Textile Museum of Canada:
Since 2001 the Museum has made significant investments into online programming, artifact digitization and new media technologies. First with Cloth & Clay: Communicating Culture and then with Canadian Tapestry: The Fabric of Cultural Diversity, the TMC continues to win awards with its new media applications. Digital Threads is a follow-up to the previous Canadian Tapestry (www.canadiantapestry.ca) Web initiative, reuniting the award-winning team. Partners include: ecentricarts inc., Willoughby Associates Ltd., Arius3D, Computing in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Toronto and Concentric Media. The TMC recognizes the financial support provided by the Department of Canadian Heritage via Canadian Culture Online.
Demonstration: Demonstrations - 1 [Demonstrations]
Keywords: contemporary, art, canadian, innovation, textiles, interactivity
