record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00910
Thesis Title
AURA- altering self-perception through interactive light emitting textiles
Author
Arife Dila Demir
2nd Author
3rd Author
------WebKitFormnt-Disposition: form-data; name="degree"Masters of Arts
Degree
Year
2019
Number of Pages
71
University
Estonian Academy of Arts
Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Nithikul Nimkulrat
Supervisor e-mail
Other Supervisor(s)
Hans-Gunter Lock
Language(s) of Thesis
English
Department / Discipline
Design and Crafts: Textile Design
Languages Familiar to Author
Turkish, English, German
URL where full thesis can be found
eka.entu.ee/public-thesis/entity-429248/demir-arife-dila-aura-altering-self-perception-through-interactive-light-emitting-textiles
Keywords
interactive textiles, light emitting textiles, body image, sense of movement
Abstract: 200-500 words
People are becoming more and more obsessive with the body image and how they appear to others. Social media and adds shape the norms of the body and impose the idea of having socially accepted flawless bodies resulting in the shifted perception of self. In this regard, AURA is a project developed as a critique to the radical shift of self-perception from the harmony of intangible and tangible aspects of human being to a body image to a material level. AURA as three woven textile artifacts aims to act as a catalyst to change people’s perception of self by creating a fictive spatial experience based on the stimulation of the sense of movement. The project considers human beings as the unity of mind-body rather than a mere flesh. By adopting speculative design approach, the fictive space of AURA is created to understand how sensory spatial experience may alter the self-perception, by imagining a world where there are no mirrors or screens to reflect the body image but interactive light emitting woven spatial textiles to respond the existence of body via light. The artifact woven with fiber optic light cables and connected to a proximity sensor to control the lights. AURA generates four different colors of light and the levels of brightness regarding the distance of a person. Lights get brighter as the person become closer to the artifact and colors line up from the farthest point to the closest as red, green, blue, and purple. To understand the influence of the artifact on people, semi-structured in-depth interviews are conducted with five participants. Each participant experienced the artifact alone and their reflection of their experience is presented in the written body of the thesis. Subjective experience and the diversity of human bodies valued in this project; the beauty in the diversity is emphasized by providing an imaginary space where people can move, feel freely, and re-connect with their selves. In other words, AURA is exploring how interactive textiles can start conversations about self-perception by stimulating the sense of movement and how electronics i.e. sensors can be used to enhance the spatial interaction and sensory qualities of the textiles.