TIMELINE

14th to 15th- Research.
16th to 17th- Materials.
18th to 22nd- Work on the prototype( several versions) two to three types of fabrics/experiment.
23rd and 24th- Collect the materials for the final installation.
25th to 29th - Work on the final installation.
30th to 5th- Refine and complete final installation specifics.

Research process

We each have assigned research keeping in mind our know how; Paulami and Shrankhla are handling the technical aspects of the installation while Kshitij and I are in charge of collecting audio, visual data and stories in other forms. We have been meeting as much as is possible to assemble together materials and comb through the research we have gathered. The process is ongoing  as of now.

Ideas for the project by Sana

Brainstorming Ideas:
We decided to bring together ideas we came up with and discuss the feasibility of each idea.Here are some of my suggestions put on the table. We weighed the pros and cons and decided on the idea of Stories on Fabric; be it sound, music or visuals depending on the materials we will be able to gather.



1. Touch sensitive smart textiles that produces sound when moved.

(Bind by cloth, rich textile industry before the British Raj due to the availability of raw materials; cotton, silk and jute. wasn't allowed to flourish due to crippling laws implemented by the British govt. 
Production: sari, shawls, carpets.
Images bound together, woven together to create handwork to machine production small scale to large scale).

2. Stitching together fabrics- from beautiful silk to cheap chiffon or some other cheaply made sari- hung open- patched together awkwardly.
(Trace the raw materials used- then and now- the scarce use of good materials to the increase in use of cheaper materials- therefore tracing the decreasing quality of production and value of textiles).

3. Story is written in the shape of the pattern used.

4. Use mirrors stitched to the cloth and project light on it at a certain angle to reveal patterns and motifs.
The type of clothing produced is gender-ed to a large extent... mostly saris, duppatas, shawls- female attire. Bold use of color in most Indian textiles and intricate patterns.)

All these ideas were thrown in during our discussion on the 13th at N2.

Ideas iterated

Title: "Stories in Fabric"

Idea 1: Use a fabric on which conductive ink is used which is visible when hand gestures are recognized. Fabric will contain patterns, design and etc in the form of visuals.
Idea 2: The fabric will be embedded with speakers. Fabric will contain audio in the form music, noise from the weaver's environment, conversations, community poems.

Feasibility: Possible, need to research on the type of ink to be used (light is used?/ sound). The tricky bit is to connect all these to a single program.
         
Type of fabric: Interested in using silk sari but need more info on the density and thickness of the fabric.
         
Materials: Ardino board, Piezo speakers, Conductive ink, Kinect(tracks movement), projectors (maybe), frames to hang fabric on (bamboo or steel could be possible materials), ropes, thread (some conductive fiber to mix with silk).