Jacquard x Google Arts & Culture - Artist Residency

From April to October 2019, three international artists collaborated with Google engineering teams in order to create, design, and produce three interactive installations using the Jacquard by Google technology. Developed by Google ATAP (Advanced Technologies and Projects), a lab dedicated to fashion and lifestyle innovation, Jacquard technology was originally designed in the form of threads, in partnership with Japanese artisans. It aims at empowering designers to turn the textiles they use into new forms of interfaces, in order to infuse new interactive properties into the objects they create.

For this Residency, Jacquard collaborated with the artisans-art technicians of Mobilier national in Paris to blend its technology with ancestral savoir-faire.

With ‘Words Weave Worlds’ Chloé Bensahel delves into the different cultural connotations and historical interpretations of ‘white’; as a concept, a color, a tool or a gesture.

The installation presents a collection of white on white text tapestries that emit sounds upon interaction (touch, stroke, and pressure). 

For this residency the OMA SPACE team has conceived 'TREE OF LIGHT', a meditative walking experience that centers around a hanging pillar, a “Tree”, into which audience members enter never to return. A contemplative yet ritual experience, each person’s procession will be unique as they undergo a transformation that is both personal and universal. 

‘Notes and Folds’ is an exploration into the processes of digital coding and handcrafting.

The goal of the project is to draw a parallel between traditional craftsmanship and digital programming; the installation is a spatialized musical instrument.

Launched in March 2019, the Jacquard by Google and Google Arts & Culture residency program curated by Pamela Golbin and mentored by Memo Akten delves into the synergies between Technology, Art, and Fashion. The residency aims to explore the yet undiscovered, creating new dialogue between technology and art by leveraging Jacquard technology into physical installations. 

We received over 200 diverse and fascinating project ideas from artists, collectives, and technologists all over the world. 

We are pleased to announce that Oma Space Studio, Chloe Bensahel, and Amor Muñoz have been selected to participate in the residency due to the outstanding creativity, vision, and innovative use of Jacquard technology displayed in their proposals. 

It will be our pleasure and privilege to work with each of these artists over the coming months to help turn their exciting visions into a reality.

Chloe Bensahel is a Franco-American (or France/US based) artist who blends performance, traditional craft and multimedia to create large-scale installations that highlight immigrant narratives from past to present. Inspired by her own family history of migration, her work investigates how narration and material traditions create a collective culture. She is currently interested in the rich conceptual space that exists at the junction between text and textile.

In partnership with Le Mobilier National, Bensahel’s project for this residency furthers her explorations of the shared space and meaning between text and textile. The artist will delve into the different cultural connotations and historical interpretations of ‘white’; as a concept, a color, a tool or a gesture.

 

OMA Space, comprised of Jang Jiu, Daniel Kapelian and Gil Kyoung-young, is a creative studio specialized in textiles, based in Seoul, Korea, that creates garments and art & design. The studio masters primitive techniques and digital tools to weave tradition and innovation and to craft unique works that connect to nature within contemporary forms. In all its creations, OMA Space expresses the natural essence of the fabrics, sublimated by an artistic dimension and a spiritual presence within.

For this residency the OMA SPACE team has conceived the “Tree of Light”, a meditative walking experience that centers around a hanging pillar, a “Tree”, into which audience members enter never to return. A contemplative yet ritual experience, each person’s procession will be unique as they undergo a transformation that is both personal and universal. Reconnecting humans with their own self, using organic material and new tech, the Tree of Light opens a path to another state of mind.

Amor Muñoz is a Mexican visual artist, her work is characterized by an interest in linking art, technology and society. Her themes include social knowledge, mediation, and manual labor. Many of Muñoz's pieces combine performance and experimental electronics with traditional media such as drawing and textile techniques. They explore the relationship between textiles and technology, and highlight the connection between material forms and social discourse.

Muñoz's project for this residency is an exploration into the processes of digital coding and handcrafting. She takes the complex pianola compositions by Conlon Nancarrow--product of a slow, manual and precise work--as reference. Her goal is to draw the parallel between craftsmanship and digital programming. 

All the details of the Jacquard Residency are available below:

Google Arts & Culture and Jacquard (Google ATAP) are launching the first artist-in-residency with the goal of exploring synergies between technology, art, and fashion at Google Arts & Culture Lab in Paris. Curated by Pamela Golbin, the program will enable three artists to conceive of and create works that explore textiles, connectivity, and creativity over the course of a five month residency. 

Invented by Dr. Ivan Poupyrev, Jacquard by Google is a technology that enables brands to create connected textiles. It was designed as an “ingredient” and can therefore be integrated into any material. Jacquard threads were designed by Google in partnership with Japanese craftsmen who have been making the cords for kimonos for 80 years. The conductive metal alloys used are incredibly thin, so they can be combined with a variety of natural and synthetic fiber that, once spun, have the weight and feel of normal yarn. As a full scale platform, Jacquard connects users to their digital life through the items they wear and use every day. Empowering the fashion industry to play an important part in the future of technology - one where it is more ambient, integrated into our lives in a seamless and less intrusive way. 

This residency will grant the three artists access to the core of Jacquard technology, factories in Japan, mentoring from Jacquard and Google Arts & Culture engineers, mentoring from Pamela Golbin and Memo Akten, and access to the Google Lab space and resources in Paris. 

The end of the residency will be celebrated by showcasing the art installations at a private event in October 2019 and potential partner museums. Additionally, final work and the Making Of process will be featured in a dedicated section on Google Arts & Culture platform. 

 Artists will own the IP of their artwork.

- Weekly advisory meetings with Google Arts & Culture Lab and Jacquard engineers 

- Access to Jacquard Research and Development teams 

- Artist mentors : Pamela Golbin and Memo Akten 

- Dedicated Creative Coder and hardware prototyping team

- Jacquard Factory visit and inspiration trip in Japan

- Three weeks at the Google Arts and Culture lab in Paris

- Stipend of 10k€ gross for each artist 

- Production budget and Jacquard material production: 15k€ for each artist

This opportunity is open to artists of all ages, at any point in their career. Though strong support is provided alongside technical expertise from Google Arts & Culture Lab and Jacquard engineers, the artist must be eager to explore new technologies and be capable of delivering a fully finished project that incorporates Jacquard technology by the end of the residency period. It is envisioned as a five month full-time residency, but allows flexibility for the artist to pursue other projects and work during the residency.

Artists must be available once per month for production reviews as well as at the start and at the end of the residency in Paris. 

Both new projects and projects that are in development but are not yet completed are eligible. Candidates will be selected based on the strength of their project as well as their ability to deliver, and a demonstration that the residency will be beneficial. Artists should grant the right to display their artwork as well as document the making of process. Apart from Jacquard background IP, artists must guarantee full ownership or right of use in perpetuity of the used material, including musical rights if applicable. 

Note: Program participants must make their own arrangements to and from Paris. 

1st of April 2019: Deadline for applications

3rd or April 2019 : Email to the 10 selected artists 

5th of April 2019 : Artists to present their work to the jury (by VC or in person at the Lab in Paris)

8th of April 2019 : Announcement of the 3 final artists selected

16-17-18th of April 2019 : START of the RESIDENCY (mandatory days at the Google Arts and Culture Lab in Paris)

May 2019 : Jacquard factories and partners visit week in Japan 

31st of September 2019 : END of the RESIDENCY (Internal presentation of the working installations)

Oct 2019: Outcome presented at TBD [Institutional Partner’s] exhibition space in Paris. 

- Pamela Golbin, Artistic Director

- Memo Akten, Artist, Researcher and Philomath

- Damien Henry, Technical Program Manager Google Arts  & Culture Lab

- Shiho Fukuhara, Jacquard Technology Integration Lead 

- Camille Bénech, Jacquard EMEA

- Arnaud Colinart & Pierre Zandrowicz - Atlas V, producers

Deadline Monday 1st of April 2019 at 18.00 CET / 9:00 PST

jacquard-residency@google.com