An embroidered computer and a sound recorder made from yarn are among the products produced as part of Ebru Kurbak's research project into the use of traditional textile techniques to manufacture electronic objects.
The arts-based research project, called Stitching Worlds, was put together over the course of four years by Vienna-based artist and designer Kurbak.
The five separate works were installed and showcased at the city's Yapı Kredi Culture Centre during this year's Istanbul Design Biennial. The works each explore textile technologies and traditions, such as knitting, weaving, crochet, and embroidery, and how they can be adapted to produce electronic objects.
The Stitching Worlds display is the culmination of four year's researchCreated between May 2014 and June 2018 at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the series of projects were funded by the Austrian Science Fund. The exhibition posed the question: What if electronics emerged from textile techniques such as knitting, weaving, crochet, and embroidery" And also: How would technology be different if craftspeople were the catalysts to the electronics industry, via textiles manufacturing"
The Embroidered Computer is one of five projects on displayThe five projects were carried out with a large network of collaborators and in four parallel tracks of investigation: experimentation, theoretical study, speculation and reflection and dissemination.
Projects include a working 8-bit universa...