LeAnne Wagner
Professional Lecturer
School of Design
DePaul University

As computing becomes more integrated into our environment and body, how is our behavior changing? How do we, as users, adapt to the technology and how does it affect our expression and movement? Over the past year, these questions have been explored through collaboration with dancers and designers to create wearable art pieces that challenge the control dynamic between technology and dancer. As part of that exploration, a series of workshops and classes has been offered to help demystify the creation of wearable electronics and controllers in effort to put these tools in the hands of designers, artists, and students. Some of the topics of the workshops have included creating wearable game controllers, musical instruments, and dance. The creations are simple, but open the door to further exploration of controlling and questioning the technology that is increasingly present in our lives. This talk will share what people have created in these workshops and the inquiry that is derived from the process. The tools used to experiment with basic electronics and wearables will also be discussed, leaving the audience with resources to continue the investigation. 

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 5.1: DePaul University on October 27, 2018.