작가와의 인터뷰

Interview done in 2013.1.7 —  while I was traveling Joshua Tree, CA to Los Cabos, Mexico…

sorry it’s in Korean

In the middle of my visiting fellowship at Cornell, I stop by New York City to talk at the Soft Lab in the ITP floor where I wanted to talk most among my home community!

The Soft Lab is cozy and people were busy with their ITP Sprint Show but, it turned out great and heated with their interests!

talk at Soft Lab, ITP, NYU

Talk at the Soft Lab, ITP, NYU

Younghui at Breakfast Talk, Cornell University

Cornell University  Oct 17th, 2012  Wednesday 10 am

As a visiting artist/scholar at Cornell Unviersity (thanks to the invitation from Dr. Geri Gay & Leo Kang at Information Science,) Younghui participated at The Breakfast Talk on Wearable Art (shorter concise version) at Information Science Department at Cornell University.  There were good group of audience made of BFA students to PhD candidates and professors from both Fine Art School and Information Science School.  She has presented some of her wearable projects and her inspiration and interests in old and new smart materials.  The room had a great energy and she has received great feedback from everyone.

Columbia College of Art  Oct 11th, 2012  Thursday 4 PM

Younghui had scheduled a three day trip to Chicago on the way to Ithaca, NY and Insook Choi from Columbia College of Art has invited her to give a special talk at Creative Technologies Forum in front of members of the provost office, faculty and students from Art + Design Dept, Fashion Studies, Product Design Dept.  Younghui gave one hour presentation on her teaching method, philosophy as well as presented selective wearable projects.    She had a very heated Q & A session with positive feedback and idea.

Younghui’s new wearable art project, ‘Gravity of Light’  3D printed textile wearable hat is finally completed three months after her team got a Da Vinci Creative Grant funded by Seoul Foundation of Art and Culture & Art Space Guemcheon.   This exhibition was held with Media City Seoul 2012 (Seoul Media Art Biennale) from Sept 10th – October 9th, 2012

“Gravity of Light”   - Interactive Wearable using 3D printed smart textile

What if light on the surface of the wearable textile behaves like it has
gravity… It started with this simple idea of light having gravity like water.

“Gravity of Light” is a wearable technology art made of 3D printed smart textile that displays the wearer’s natural movement of head such as tilting.  With embedded custom designed electronic circuitry in a hat, light pixels move on the surface of the hat flowing toward titled direction.

Gravity of Light by Younghui Kim / Yejin Cho 2012

This project was funded by Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON as apart of 2012 Da Vinci Idea  Competition Grant. Also supported by Hongik University WCU Digital Media Public Art Lab (R32-20067)

Copyright 2012, Younghui Kim/ Yejin Cho, All Rights Reserved

Exhibition, “Lay Artist” was a group media art exhibition curated by Art Center Nabi.   Younghui’s original piece from 2008 exhibition in Dallas, “Social Fabrics” was invited to show in this exhibition.  (artwork titled “Stir It On! 부딪쳐라!”)

“Stri It On!” at the Art Center Nabi

She showcased one original (still in a good condition after five years) piece along with new edition created with a different technique and parts.  Along with one-month long exhibition, she taught a special two day workshop on Wearable Technology for public applicants.  It was held at Art Center Nabi gallery – Aug 22, 23rd.

Her interview titled as “Wearable Computing as Art” is included in their in depth catalog.

Cataglog

Younghui teaching Wearable Technology Workshop at the Art Center Nabi

The abstract of the presentation is below:

Pushing the Boundary of Art and Technology:  Wearable Technology Art and Else

In the process of creating, artists have been playing with technology since old days, whether they are technology of materials like fresco paints, acrylic, or new media platform like photography or computer generated art.  Artists try to push the boundary of art wider, sometimes aided with technology and at the same time, one can see that scientists also try to push the boundary of human knowledge through applications in human lives.  I am here to show you some small examples of what happens when technology meets art.  Through artistic experiments that may seem useless, innovative idea may become a real application and product one day, I hope.

I will present and discuss about my current wearable technology projects in sense of how it was inspired and what kind of process it took to become a working prototype,   especially  in sense of how I take and understand technology in artist’s point of view.

Art and Science are very close but, often the approaches take its differences.   Dealing with art & technologies, I found it hard to balance both as they often come from two different directions.  There are no right or wrong approaches but, one thing sure is that you have to have an open mind to be creative!

The 3rd Junglim Forum of this year, 2011

Last Thursday (Nov 24, 2011) in Seoul was a cold night.  Younghui was the second speaker along with other two guest speakers.  She spoke about media-fied fashion in relation to media-fied architecture, showing architectural projects that are related to wearable media art projects.  With the title of talk,  “Media-fy Yourself”-복식을 미디어화하다 – she presented her past & current wearable art projects and emphasized that one can now choose one’s media platform in order to express or communicate instead of staying inside of one kind of media platform.

This year’s Junglim Forum is about “Raw Innovation” “Cooked Innovation” and there were total of 8 speakers from various field of new media, dance, performance, design and etc – total of three occasions in July, Sept, and Nov.

Thank you for the kind support of Junglim foundation, there were dinner sandwiches, red wine, chocolates and good company and talks.

Thanks for everyone who came in cold weather.

The Creators Project, UK ‘s article started with

Body Graffiti: When Wearable Technology Shines A Message

From its medieval advent when Roger Bacon suggested using convex glass to improve eyesight to the illuminated fashion label MOON Berlin, which debuted its inaugural line just this year, wearable technology is as much a part of the everyday as it is the “novel.” From a pair of glasses to interactive lamp dresses, such wearable innovations have made our lives that much easier and that much more exciting. As wearable technology is defined simply as “fashion that incorporates electronics and computerised devices,” Younghui Kim also jumps on the bandwagon. Yet with her wearables, there’s a different sort of message.  <continued>

The Creators Project Korean article starts with:

바디 그래피티: 착용가능한 테크놀로지가 메시지를 빛낸다

… 바디 그래피티는 계속 진행 중인 프로젝트로 다른 웨어러블 미디엄을 통해 발전하면서 웨어러블 테크놀로지를 한층 당당한 수준으로 끌어 올린다. 커스텀 디자인 LED POV 시스템을 이용해서 텍스트건 그래픽이건 여러 메시지들을 프로그래밍 한다. 조끼나 바지, 부츠 같은 착용 가능한 것들에 LED를 꿰매 넣기 때문에 이 비주얼 그래피티는 움직임 속에서 보여질 수가 있다. ….  <중략>  기사 더보기

Just to add a little bit about background in my wearable projects:

My research on the wearable art has started since 2002 and my first wearable project was a technoloy jacket for the mutimedia poetry performance costume. (Afrofuturistic, at The Kitchen, New York 2003) Since then HearWear: The Fashion of Environmental Noise Display project has followed.   It will be almost 10 years since I’ve started to play with wearable media next year…  <smile>

Korean Times Weekly Magazine

Cover story:  ”Solo Exhibition by Younghui Kim, “Bottari”

“When everyday life crosses over media art”  - article by Jinwoo Park

Here is the online version of the article about my solo media art exhibition at B2Project >>>>

FRENZY International Fashion Magazine, Winter 2010

“High Tech Couture” by Madigan Talmage-Bowers

‘HearWear’ and ‘Stir It On!’ are featured in this article.  It is an interesting article in general.

….Remember the childhood excitement of light-up shoes that flashed on impact? New York-based designers Younghui Kim and Milena Berry expand the concept for the 21st century with HearWear, a line of “wearable electronic” wrap skirts. Inspired by the fast-paced urban rhythms of Manhattan and Seoul, HearWear promotes the idea that consumers should be more in touch with and expressive through their environments. The skirts fuse audio and visual stimulation, responding to noise with LED panels imbedded in the fabric. Battery-powered sensors hidden in the waistbands activate the panels and electroluminescent wires embroidered into the garments’ design. The louder the noise, the more intense the impromptu light show. “We work not only towards a better environmental awareness for most people, but also towards the unnoticeable integration of technology in your day-to-day fashion and lifestyle,” says Kim of her creations. She is also debuting a sister line of skirts dubbed Stir it On! which respond to physical stimulation such as being jostled on a crowded street or dance floor. The built-in sensors could be applied to almost any wearable piece, including handbags, accessories, and jackets.

(…from the article, please click here to read the whole article>>>>)