Circuit Dress [2008]

This wearable instrument and unwearable mini-dress, based on the principles of circuit bending, plays with the current design trend in which technology is incorporated into fabrics as invisibly and flexibly as possible. The Circuit Dress completely reverses that trend since the aesthetics of the dress is the technology that normally is hidden. It is the unwearability of the dress that defines the performance. The closeness of the technology forces the body into new positions. There are twelve coils incorporated into the dress, each of which is played by connecting them with one another through copper finger plates. In this way new sounds are created. The composition consists of a choreography for the fingers that slowly explore the dress. This leads to an intimate yet crackling performance.

The micromini dress is inspired by Paco Rabanne's "unwearable" collection from the 1960s, existing from Twelve Experimental Dresses, in 1964 and followed it in 1966 with a couture collection he called Twelve Unwearable Dresses, His innovative constructions and unconventional use of materials epitomized the exploratory and experimental sensibility of much 1960s avant-garde fashion.
The Circuit Dress is made completely from recycled hardware from old computers and weighs in total 12 kilo. The dress is limited in flexibility, making it both an unwearable dress and a wearable instrument at the same time.

The performance Circuit Dress has been featured at the 5 Days Off Festival, TodaysArt Festival & the E-Pulse festival.
The sculptural Circuit Dress has been exhibited in various museums like Future Textiles in Denmark, Pretty Smart Textiles, The Hague and the exhibits Fashionable Technology & at the TechnoSensual exhibition, Quartier 21, Vienna.

Technical support: Daan Johan