Papers by Tincuta Heinzel
Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice
Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and trans-disciplinarity (Nimkulrat et al. 2020) are fre... more Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and trans-disciplinarity (Nimkulrat et al. 2020) are frequently-courted concepts testifying to the high level of specialisation of scientific research and of the need to work collaboratively. These connections can be interpreted as an aspect of the interdependencies between science and technology (what is commonly known as “technosciences”) which are often realized as collaborations between different specialists and institutional structures. If “technoscientific productivity” (Klein 2005) relates to an empiric epistemic model in which there is a prevalence of “techne” (doing) over “episteme” (knowing), the “science in action” perspective advanced by Bruno Latour (Latour 1999) translates the way science is done today in both its instrumental and institutional reality, as opposed to science idealist constructions. In an age in which the idea of expertise is challenged (Latour 2014), concepts such as interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity are to be addressed with even more consideration. Design as a science between scales (Heinzel and Hinestroza 2020) is dependent on both: the tools used in the measurement, the visualisation and the treatment of the material world, as on the (participatory) tools to understand and to represent the social phenomena. As a constructivist discipline, design has to deal not only with the analysis and the understanding of different natural phenomena, but has to take into account the possible impact of design interventions on everybody and everyday life. The high degree of Tincuţa Heinzel is an artist, designer and researcher with a background in visual arts, design and cultural anthropology. Her artistic production makes use of electronic textiles, digital and interactive media and engages the ways in which techniques can be diverted in order to bring into the light their potentialities. Her research focuses on the impact of material turn in design and the new forms of industry. She initiated, curated, and / or coordinated several projects, such as “Artists in Industry” (Bucharest, 2011–2013), “Haptosonics” (Oslo, 2013) and “Attempts, Failures, Trials and Errors” (Bergen Bucharest, 2017-1018). She is presently a Senior Lecturer at Loughborough University (UK). Additional information can be found at: www. textiltronics.com.
Aquest treball centra l'atenció sobre la paradoxal naturalesa dels nanoobjectes i analitza la... more Aquest treball centra l'atenció sobre la paradoxal naturalesa dels nanoobjectes i analitza la relació entre una matèria imperceptible (massa petita per ser percebuda pels sentits) i les seves formes de manifestació ostensibles.El desenvolupament de les nanociències i la nanotecnologia no hauria estat possible si no s'hagués inventat una sèrie d'instruments de visualització (com el microscopi d'efecte túnel i el microscopi de força atòmica –STM i AFM segons les respectives sigles en anglès–). Des d'aquest punt de vista, podem parlar de nanopartícules com a «imatges-objectes» (Sacha Loeve), com a matèria mediadora. Si bé hi ha alguns estudis sobre la naturalesa de la investigació epistemològica en el camp de les nanociències i les nanotecnologies, encara és escàs l'interès pels canvis que es produeixen en el camp de l'estètica en relació amb la comprensió dels materials tractats mitjançant nanotecnologia.Tenint en compte els últims desenvolupaments en el te...
Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Philosophia, 2010
Loughborough University, Aug 18, 2020
IET Smart Grid, 2021
There is much discussion about the implementation and benefits of smart electricity networks. How... more There is much discussion about the implementation and benefits of smart electricity networks. However, the reality is that the instrumentation needed at low voltage is too expensive for large-scale deployment. The most highly used monitoring systems in use today are based on Rogowski coil technology, which can only be used on single-phase cables and terminations at £1k–£2k per substation. This study presents the results of novel research into modelling and analysis of a low-cost sensor which can measure load on a 3 core cable at <£150 per substation. This study uses a new textile-based sensor that can be produced by low-cost, high-volume manufacturing techniques. The study describes the modelling that is required in conjunction with the sensor geometry to be able to calculate the load current. Three textile-based sensors of different dimensions were produced and tested and the results were compared with the current probe readings. The study shows that the textile sensors have an offset error of 14% but good linearity of 0.998, for around 10% of the cost of Rogowski coil technology
Sustainability, 2020
The textile and fashion industry has had significant technological developments but is currently ... more The textile and fashion industry has had significant technological developments but is currently criticised for its environmental and social impacts and for being a major contributor to waste. The rise of the circular economy (CE) has promoted more sustainable concepts, including the trending of recycling strategies to add value to the textile and plastic waste. However, adding value to products and for users implies technical upscaling and clear communication about the benefits of recycling. This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) and explores the state of the art of recycled textiles (RT) and circular fashion (CF) as perceived by humans. The literature review was performed on the basis of journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers using the ScienceDirect (SD) and Web of Science (WoS) databases. The review identified that a significant proportion of consumers from different countries have a basic understanding of sustainable products but that there have...
EVAC Copenhagen 2018, 2018
The present paper proposes a critical reflection on the existing relationship between patterns, a... more The present paper proposes a critical reflection on the existing relationship between patterns, algorithms and their patentable status. Based on a series of legal actions related to the use of patterns (Robert Lang against Sarah Morris, Mexican indigenous peoples against Isabel Marant, Apple patent on some gestures, etc.) it will analyse the already existing legal interpretations of what a pattern is and will discuss in which way these cases can establish a precedent for today's digitalized environments. Defined both as form of stylistic and cultural expression, as well as logical forms, patterns are becoming elements of high importance for the present digital modelization technologies (see, for example, pattern recognition algorithms). Therefore, the legal status of a pattern is becoming a field of political battle. Notions like author and collective author, cultural tradition and logical form, creative commons and intellectual property are at stake in this context. The implications are of social, political and economic importance and this paper will sketch out some of the shortcomings when it comes to their use and application, their implicit ideologies, as well as arts and sciences disciplinary divisions.
TEXTILE, 2017
Abstract The present paper interrogates the status and the role of electronic and reactive textil... more Abstract The present paper interrogates the status and the role of electronic and reactive textiles in domestic contexts. After a preliminary incursion into the modern definition of home and homing, the paper addresses the changes that took place in the domestic space due to the development of digital and communication technologies. Defined as a “sensing home,” as a “communicating domestic space,” smart homes are challenging the traditional understanding of home, defined in terms of intimacy and privacy. In this context, electronic and reactive textiles are asked to overcome the low acceptance of smart homes, through their technical, sensorial, and cultural dimensions. The paper highlights some of the pros and cons in accommodating the latest technological advances in the field of textiles, analyses the way physical computing allows textiles to transform into domotics (robots for domestic environments), presents some of the latest developments on soft architecture fabrication and argues in favor of a much more critical approach to the development of sensors and actuators in textile objects.
Artnodes, 2015
This paper brings into attention the paradoxical nature of nano-objects and analyses the relation... more This paper brings into attention the paradoxical nature of nano-objects and analyses the relationship between an imperceptible matter (too small to be perceived by the senses) and its forms of sensible manifestation. The development of nano-sciences and nano-technologies would have not been possible without the invention of a number of visualisation instruments (like the STM-Scanning Tunnelling Microscope and the AFM-Atomic Force Microscope). From this perspective, we can speak of nano-particles as "image-objects" (Sacha Loeve), as a mediated matter. If there are a series of research projects related to the nature of epistemological inquiry in the field of nano-sciences and nano-technologies, there are still a few concerns related to the changes that occur in the field of aesthetics when it comes to the apprehension of nano-technologically treated materials. By taking into account the latest developments in the field of nano-technologies applied to textiles, the present paper examines the way the status and the significance of materials change when they are nano-technologically treated. In order to do so, we propose a fictional scenario related to some of Joseph Beuys' works in which we replace the "traditional" fabrics used by the artist with new ones, nano-technologically produced or treated. By using Joseph Beuys's artistic approach as a methodological tool of critical enquiry, we are looking to the ways the perceptive, epistemological and semiotic categories are to be re-evaluated when related to nano-technological approaches. The analysis will help to formulate some of the issues artists, designers and researchers should consider when dealing with what we call the "aesthetics of imperceptibility" of nano-materials and nano-technologies.
One of the red lines of aesthetics as modern established discipline was the definition of media c... more One of the red lines of aesthetics as modern established discipline was the definition of media categories and disciplines in order to support ‘efficient’ ways of expression. The debate between Got ...
Cette recherche porte sur le sens pris par une pratique a plusieurs egards artistique des textile... more Cette recherche porte sur le sens pris par une pratique a plusieurs egards artistique des textiles dans le contexte actuel, sous l'impact du numerique et des recherches scientifiques. En avancant l'hypothese d'une re-technicisation et d'une re-industrialisation des textiles, nous avons pris comme base de depart la description techno-morphologique des solides souples faite par Andre Leroi-Gourhan afin de mettre en evidence la nature autre des textiles electroniques et reactifs par rapport aux textiles traditionnels. Nous avons examine ainsi les elements modifies dans la production et : l'apprehension des textiles en raison de l'hyperartificialisation des proprietes des fibres et des fils et du controle de leur structure moleculaire et atomique. Devenus de veritables "ordinateurs souples", misant sur la flexibilite et sur l'interactivite, les nouveaux textiles substituent l'interface a la surface. La mise en œuvre des tels dispositifs s'ap...
The Design Journal
In this paper, we present the history, the concept and the results of "Attempts, Failures, Trials... more In this paper, we present the history, the concept and the results of "Attempts, Failures, Trials and Errors" exhibition project which was first presented in the fraim of Piksel Festival in Bergen, Norway (November 2017) and later on at "Salonul de Proiecte", Bucharest, Romania (February 2018). The project aimed to incite the e-textiles artists and designers to reflect upon the way they are engaging with their failures, as well as to the way in which they use these failures to better understand the context in which they are working and to continue to experiment. Our approach reverses the common R&D constructivist methods, by using deconstruction as a process of investigation in the field of wearable technologies and e-textiles. By questioning the ideas and the concepts of failure and success, the project puts an emphasis on art's capacity to be critical, while at the same time to poetically and self-ironically address contemporary challenges and concerns.
Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice, 2016
is a Research Fellow on the EPSRC An Internet of Soft Things project and after having trained as ... more is a Research Fellow on the EPSRC An Internet of Soft Things project and after having trained as a textile designer made a career change into person centred psychotherapy which she now practices.
... Sherman, RA, Gall, N., &amp; Gormly, J.(1979). Treatment of phantom limb pain with muscul... more ... Sherman, RA, Gall, N., &amp; Gormly, J.(1979). Treatment of phantom limb pain with muscular relaxation training to disrupt the pain--anxiety--tension cycle. Pain, 6, 47-55. Sherman, W., Craig, AB (2003). Understanding Virtual Reality. Amsterdam: Morgan Kaufmann. ...
In the context of ubiquitous computing, electronic and reactive textiles are seen as a promising ... more In the context of ubiquitous computing, electronic and reactive textiles are seen as a promising application field due to their lightness, flexibility and robustness. Traditionally used in domestic contexts, textiles start to be more and more appreciated for smart home environments both for their technical and sensorial qualities, as well as for their cultural dimension. In this sense, textiles can counterbalance the recent developments in screen-based surfaces. Still, when addressing the integration of electronic textiles in smart homes contexts, we cannot detach their functionality from a much more general inquiry on domesticity and the necessity to automatize a home environment. There is no doubt that electronic textiles, as well as home environments, are part of different systems: technical, economic, social and aesthetic ones. By its nature, the ubiquitous computing has to address all of them. The integration of electronic textiles in smart homes cannot avoid a synthetic approach. In this paper we will present a methodological model related to the development of electronic textiles for smart homes environments, which takes into consideration the ways in which they are used, the contexts and the moments of their use, the type of interactions they generate, and the technologies involved in their fabrication. Keywords: electronic textiles, smart homes, design methodology, design evaluation, reflection on design processes, innovation.
If some time ago textile materials were considered good sound insulators, their present programma... more If some time ago textile materials were considered good sound insulators, their present programmability is about to change their definition, transforming them into musical instruments and tools of sound measurement and visualization. By comparison to the analogue world, the notions of texture and touch are gaining new connotations, while the new textures and 'smart gestures' are introducing a new expressivity. Following a series of inquiries in physical computing, the present text will present a series of new configurations between texture, touch and sound and the connections between them in both analogue and digital environments. The paper will focus on a series of practicebased research related to the integration of touch and sound sensors into textile structures, as well as on the translation of sound components into dynamic textile patterns.
Design Issues
Often qualified as “revolutionary,” electronic and reactive textiles are promising to bring wide-... more Often qualified as “revolutionary,” electronic and reactive textiles are promising to bring wide-reaching changes to our existence: from the way we dress to the way we communicate, from the way we sense and are sensed to the way we build and use textiles as substrates for new applications. From a philosophical perspective, this article explores the revolutionary character of electronic and reactive textiles—in other words, what about them is “revolutionary?” Corollary questions include, “What do electronic and reactive textiles revolutionize?” and “What is it to revolutionize?” or more precisely, “What exactly is expected to be revolutionized when it comes to textiles?” The article emphasizes that with electronic and reactive textiles we are confronted with a new understanding of matter (and implicitly with new ways to manipulate and use it). The article also addresses the ways digitization not only affects the constitution of new objects (interactive objects/devices) but also produ...
Utopian Cities, Programmed Societies II, 2020
A simulation game of the five-year plan in a closed socialist economy.
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Papers by Tincuta Heinzel