CODED_COUTURE

The Tufts University Art Gallery at the Shirley and Alex Aidekman Arts Center proudly presents CODEDCOUTURE, an exhibition that proposes a new interpretation of couture where coding is the ultimate design tool for creating customized garments and accessories. The works displayed range from forward-looking garments and accessories to video projections, objects, drawings, photographs, and interactive applications that provide the public with greater insights into what the future of fashion may hold. The exhibition, which will open January 24-May 21, 2017, is curated by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox of c2-curatorsquared and features work by 10 international designers. A public opening reception will be held January 26 from 5:00 to 7:30 pm.

The works in CODEDCOUTURE_ are categorized according to four basic coding themes: biological, cultural, psychological, and synergistic. The themes explore topics of identity, representation, and how we relate to others through highly personalized fashion designs.

Featured projects include a dress design by Dutch designers Melissa Coleman that uses a speech recognition system to analyze voice stress as an indicator of untruthfullness. The dress lights up and administers shocks based on the wearer’s responses, “training” the wearer to become more truthful. The dress will be on display alongside a video that will show it in use.

The iMiniSkirt by British fashion brand CuteCircuit (Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz) is similar to their Twitter dress, the world’s first evening dress that displays live Tweets across its fabric surface. The iMiniSkirt also changes color and animation based on real-time audience input creating a constantly evolving dynamic display. Visitors will be encouraged to interact with the piece using a specially-created hashtag and app on the nearby tablet.

Accessories by British designer Amy Congdon that envision a world where new luxury materials are fashioned from cells, not fabrics. Her collections transcend the realm of the lab, exist as fashion, and employ tissue engineering and bio-ink jet printing. The prototype objects on display are fashioned from enamel scales and will be accompanied by photographs from Congdon’s lab.

Other artists included in the exhibition are Marloes ten Bhömer, Cedric Flazinski, Ying Gao, Mary Huang, N O R M A L S, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, Simon Thorogood, and Alison Tsai.

CODED_COUTURE is organized by the Department of Exhibitions, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New and is curated by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox of c2 curatorsquared. The exhibition is sponsored in part by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation.