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Artist: Adam Whiton and Yolita Nugent |
| Exhibition: Tactical Action |
| Date: April 14 2004 - June 10 2004 |
Curator: Lea Rekow
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Bio:
Adam Whiton is an industrial designer and technologist whose focus is in the research, development and design implementation of culturally responsible technologies. He earned his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in industrial design and is currently a researcher at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the founding members of the Interrogative Design Group there. He is also a lecturer at the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis within their Digital Media initiative.
Yolita Nugent is an apparel designer that has worked for major design companies throughout the United States specializing in design, technical development and overseas manufacturing. She earned her BFA in apparel from the Rhode Island School of Design and is generally responsible for approximately 350 styles per year with an annual retail value of $25M. Her work in the apparel industry has led her into feminist studies of fashion as well the critical study of manufacturing in developing nations on which the apparel industry is heavily dependant.
Both Whitons and Nugents wearable collaborations have been featured in numerous design and technology publications. They were recently shown at the SIGGRAPH 2003 Cyber Fashion Show, voted one of TIME Magazines Coolest Inventions of 2003 and will be featured in an upcoming documentary on ARTE television in France and Germany. Statement: Art should not just be experienced in the gallery or museum but should adapt to the principle medium of the age, in our time, we consider that to be technology-consumerism. In our work, we attempt to develop technologies designed to permeate the mass market to perform both desired functions and act as vehicles for social dialogue. The culture of fashion throughout history has tended to place women in positions of vulnerability. From the constructed industrialized corsetry of the 19th century to the engineering of todays six-inch heels, these fashionable technologies serve to create a landscape of vulnerability. So while we note the invention of micro-fiber khakis, designed so men can spill things on them and remain unstained, we feel we must respond. The No-Contact Jacket, our latest development in the genders war of fashion, is a wearable defensive jacket charged with high voltage electricity at the press of a button. The Jacket consists of a complex layering system to insulate the wearer while electrically conductive fibers, developed by the DuPont Corporation, deliver the current to any unauthorized contacts. Designed to deter physical assault the Jacket functions as an implement for survival, empowerment, and identity. We intend to offer the No-Contact Jacket in the mass market place as an experiment in critical cultural commodity. size 4-6 2nd Generation Prototype electrically conductive fibers, rubberized insulation, fabric, electronic components 2002 to present
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