The 27 local, regional and national artists have created their own collection line or individual pieces specifically for the exhibition, and have made work that will be modeled on the catwalk show during the opening reception. Artists explore the myriad influences and contexts of fashion, investigating issues such as identity and values, innovation and retrogression, trends and fads, materialism and consumption, high and low fashion, globalism and regionalism, thrift, reusing, recycling and reclaiming.
We participated in the runway showcasing our new UV fluorescing inks and in Basement6 doing live silkscreening. It was really cool to be able to finally present my own home town with the stuff we’ve been pitching all over the country. If you want to come hang out, we’ll be printing live every Saturday till Jan 11 from 6-9 if you want to get something made, bring by your clothing, we’ll print on it for free!
My Biometric Data
There is a lot going on. Let me show you it. These are a few of the projects I’m working on RIGHT NOW!
WreckLab / MakeLab is a class I’m proposing around town in which people take apart the things that mystify them, learn how the component parts work, then put them back together in novel ways. The idea is to empower people with the knowledge of everyday objects they mistake for magic. Cell phone: magic. Refrigerators… majick. Printers: sorcery!! Having the knowledge of the inner workings of their thingsgives people more ownership over the stuff they buy. If your watch breaks, you’re not out all the parts, you can use that stuff! Also there’s the potential for fixing it yourself.
There is the hope that more happens, that through this destructive and constructive play people find themselves inspired to experiment, to realize that science is done by people solving their own problems. That a playful experimenting mind is a fun thing to cultivate, and who knows what fun hacks we’ll develop along the way!
Radioactive Boardgame Free will and chance, these are things I’ve been thinking about ever since I was introduced to the concept of reductionism. I’d really like to see more large scale things controlled by quantum and subatomic weirdness. It is disappointing to know that something mysterious exists that has the potential to give life true randomness and in my opinion adds a fair serving of intrigue then realize that as it aggregates all the fun random effects blend out to your last choice at Wendy’s (you got something from the dollar menu). So I’ve built a scintillator using Zinc Sulfide and Americium and in absolute darkness I can see subatomic particles exploding off and shooting out individual photons. It looks like static (coooooool). What I would like to do with this is develop a way to amplify it singularly to make decisions for a board game. No idea what the game will be, maybe I’ll make it a SMS based application where you ask it a question and it replies with an answer selected by ATOMS.
Biometric data link with my online and audio inputs. I’d like to see if there’s a correlation between my blood pressure and the websites I visit regularly.
It’s now late and I have a letter to write. So I’ll just name a few others: UV graffiti, RGB UV plastic based inks, refillable spray paint cans (found some), laser projector, The Two Hands Project, and starting a hackerspace in Ann Arbor called All Hands Active.
Awesome news! I’m proud to announce that Ann Arbor’s Maker Space is now with name! All Hands Active [AHA] has a good flow and ring to it. But for me I feel it implies immediate action, a hands on / personal feel, and community involvement and these are three things that I think are critical.
Hey all! Just thought I’d let you know that this Thursday (tomorrow) will be a Build and Tell presented by the A2Makers group. We’ll be meeting at the Neutral Zone [310 E Washington Ann Arbor MI 48104] to have some stimulants (coffee/mate), brain storm and share what we’ve been making. If you’re down to come, here’s facebook stuff yo.
www.twohandsproject.com is a Documentary on Maker/Hackerspaces that will be shot in a month during a whirlwind tour of as many USA spaces as possible on the JetBlue 600$ anywhere anytime ticket!
JetBlue is offering a 599$ ticket for a month of unlimited travel. We can hop around the entire country visiting spaces for 600$ and a few couches. This is a project waiting to happen. I’m also looking for any exciting film makers and funding, check www.twohandsproject.com for more info and to donate / be a part of this trip.
All these inks combined with fresh talent Ala Sadie Scheffer and what do you have? A whole new series of shirts rolling out, you can check out our new website at Modati.com. I’m really excited about the interactivity of our new inventory. Products like the thermochromatic potholders that change to indicate their states (they catch fire when they get hot) and the mood shirt, which appears to change moods depending on if it’s bright and sunny out, or dark and scary.
It’s interesting to see how important design is to us, if you consider the fact that you are simply an aggregate of sensory inputs through time, every object you encounter becomes a part of you. So let’s keep making beautiful things, so like the girl, we can keep a bright sky above and smiles on our faces.
So I’m currently living with my friend Alex in Cambridge. He’s leaving in a few days to go to Brazil, but I think I’ve arranged a new spot to lay my head. I’m just starting a new job with a startup doing some Ruby/Rails programming, and I drive a moped around town. It’s beautiful:
Project based posting maybe be slow, but there’s some new programming snippets on their way here. Be good.
That trip to the Austin Maker Faire was a tiny bit over my threshold for crazy. Still it was awesome to meet the people at Nublabs.org and well…aparently I’ll be going to Boston in 2 weeks Nov 1st.
There’s a possibility I wont be getting 3 degrees, but that’s fine. I have stuff to do that excites me more. And everyone wins when I get excited about something.
There’s a passion of Bilal kinda flowing right now and no cup to hold it. Not sure where to put this overflow.
If you’re in Austin and are going to the maker faire, please come and hang out with me at 4:30 on the Maker Stage. I’ll be presenting some new projects along with my old laser cutter.
