poster and key visual of the symposium
研討會的形成源自於2017夏天甫於台灣苗栗深山泰雅部落舉辦的年度國際電子織品工作坊， 是一場工作坊之後的傳遞分享和沈澱思考。 這個工作坊為社會設計項目Tribe Against Machine（部落對抗機器） 的首發活動，邀請世界各地的藝術家、人類學家、 工程師、社區文化工作者加入一場科技與傳統的對話，並以實際的文化交換行動，實驗這個計畫的創新觀點與意圖。研討會希望對不同領域的創作者、專業文 化工作者、創新設計思維家與創業者，介紹計畫的精神與遠景，並宣傳其十天的國際電子工作坊過程與結果。更重要的是，邀請所有參與者共同關注與思辨本計劃的中心命題：「如何讓傳統與未來得以相互修補，並在散落的文化社群間創造彼此的國際連結，對抗於只服務消費型社會的科技」。
參與的國際藝術家多為首度來台，就其長年在電子織品、穿戴式裝置、人類學研究、文化復興、藝術運動等領域的研究或創作實踐，共同探討數位時代中，廣義的服裝與織品文化如何被重新構成我們的生活，又有何種文化運動的未來性與可能性就「科技：穿戴式科技產業與DIY自造文 化」、「經濟：電子織品運動與新型態文化經濟模式」、「人類學：文化典藏與社區藝術運動」三場講座，討論在形塑Tribe Against Machine計畫過程中，我們探究、並將持續探究的種種議題。
Tribe Against Machine （部落對抗機器）是台灣第一個工作坊結合了電子織品社群和民族織品團體，首次舉辦邀請了14位藝術家分別來自德國、荷蘭、美國、西班牙、日本、希臘、羅馬尼亞、比利時等，活動協辦單位野桐工坊則邀請了泰雅各重要纖維藝術家、田野調查工作者、歌謠傳承者等。活動立意是拓展兩個團體彼此的內容範疇和社群串連，以傳統和未來互相修補的設定進行對話，基於此設定由野桐工坊主辦四場：人類學工作坊、傳統纖維工作坊、歌舞工作坊、織紋工作坊。國際藝術家主辦四場：基本電子織品電路與材料介紹、生物塑料織品、充氣穿戴雕塑、電磁波偵測織品。這也是野桐工坊第一次和電子織品團體的合作，雙方透過十天的共食共做的國際工作坊中，在技法、材料、原住民史、當代藝術觀點上都穫得很大的交換，最後以駭客松形式產出數件以泰雅織品形式為主體的電子織品原型。
討論脈絡主軸以「電子織品」串連「民族織品」兩主軸交綜討論，探討藉由二者經驗創造有別於資本取向的社會應用，如偏鄉藝術祭、以電子織品為主題的小型駐村基地等模型。從民族文化的角度來觀看，「電子織品」科技成為傳統織品文化典藏的推手的可能性推演；從電子織品藝術角度來看的話，傳統技法和傳統工法、天然纖維提鍊技術有無可能啟發生物藝術等當代科技藝術？
客座與談講者：
- 台南應用科技大學時尚設計系講師 張名吉
- 紡織產業綜合研究所 黃博雄
- 好蟾蜍工作室創辦人 林鼎傑
在第一場的討論中的發問中主要在於針對DIY文化、創客型的藝術家對於本次活動的反應感想，以及對象社區就於科技介入所衍生出的供需、主從問題，以及對象社區對科技的理解程度是否適合做為社區發展長期依賴的材料元素；具數位製造元素的DIY活動是否能夠在成品面拓展傳統工藝的實際應用等。
在第二場較著墨在經濟和科技的討論中請到黃博雄博士，爾後在藝術家Ricardo在Medium上就本次研討會發表的文章中提到，包括他自己在內的一些藝術家對於台灣紡研所目前發展出可洗、可拆的穿戴心跳監控產品感到意外，也對這些心跳感測的穿戴式織物的市場性感到好奇，這代表台灣在穿戴發展的社會面、市場行銷面上和歐洲是相距不大的。
在第三場的投影片中，藝術家皆舉例了科技、媒體和傳統工藝合作的社會計畫，並都有關注在數位藝術和工藝織品中普遍的數學性的巧合，此種共通點通常多成為藝術家藝術創作的手段，但亦可成為電子織品中「科技典藏文化」的技術；又如藝術家Jonathan提到古科學中紀錄航海路徑的方式如自東南亞南島移民文化中發展出來的波利尼希亞導航系統，企圖借鏡古科技來討論現有科技與傳統織品合作的可能性，他更引用德國理論主義者Friedrich Kittler的主張：What remains people is what media can store and communicate來強調科技在文化傳播上的角色，以及媒體本身有其依邏輯發展而產生的主體性，並非人類社會的延伸偽足。Tincuta則提出如90年代戰略媒體一詞關於社會運動者如何利用藝術來影響主流經濟、文化方向。
本研討會總體以廣而淺的討論綜合討論之，主要傳遞了電子織品在藝術上和商業上的大略當代視野以及前景背景，自90年代MIT開發了穿戴刺繡的小型電腦與Lily Pad到近代Google和Livis合作的觸控紡織介面Jaqcuard Project，和電子織品藝術家十天在工作坊中的感想發表。
This symposium originated from the annual international e-textile workshop held in the Atayal tribe, Taiwan in the summer of 2017. It was a sharing and reflection after this 10-days workshop. It is the first event organized by the social design project Tribe Against Machine by inviting artists, anthropologists, engineers, and community cultural workers from around the world to join a dialogue between technology and tradition, and exchange action with actual culture. Experiment with the innovative ideas and intentions of this project. The symposium hopes to introduce creators, professional cultural workers, creative design thinkers and entrepreneurs in different fields, introduce the spirit and vision of the project, and promote its 10-days international electronic workshop process and results. More importantly, all participants are invited to pay close attention to and consider the central proposition of the project: “How to make traditions and the future complement each other, how to create global international connections among the scattered cultural communities, and fight against technology only serves the capital society. “
Most of the participating international artists came to Taiwan for the first time, discussing their long-term research or creative practice in the fields of e-textile, wearable devices, anthropological research, cultural archiving, and art practices, and jointly discussed clothing and fabrics in the digital age in a broad sense. How culture is restructured into our lives, and what are the future and possibilities of cultural movements. The discussion was composed into three lectures : “Wearable technology industry and DIY culture”, “e-Textile movement and the new form of Cultural And Creative Industries”, “Cultural Archiving In Community Art”.
This workshop organized by Tribe Against Machine is the first one merges e-textile technology and ethnic textile cultural topic in Taiwan . 14 artists from Germany, Netherlands, United States, Spain, Japan, Greece, Romania, Belgium are invited as participants. The event co-organizer Lihang Workshop invited local important Atayal fiber artists, field researchers, and inhibitor of Atayal traditional chants. The purpose of the event is to expand the context and community connection of both groups, and to conduct a dialogue with the traditional and future patching settings. Based on this setting, the Lihang Workshop host four workshops: anthropology workshop, traditional fiber workshop, Atayal Traditional Chant and Dance Workshop, Weaving Workshop. On the other hand, four workshops were hosted by international artists as well: introduction to basic e-textile circuits and materials, bioplastic fabrics, inflatable wearable sculptures, and EMF fabrics. This is also the first cooperation between Lihang Workshop and the e-textile group. Through the 10-days workshop and living together, the two sides have gained a great exchange in techniques, materials, aboriginal history, and contemporary art perspectives. Finally, in the form of hackathon, several prototypes of e-textile were made mixed with the form of Atayal traditional textile culture.
The main thread of the discussion is a general discussion on the two main axes of “e-textile” and “ethnic textile”, and discusses how to create social applications different from capital applications. From the perspective of ethnic culture, can “e-textile” become the promoter of traditional textile cultural? From the perspective of e-textile, is it possible for ethnic craft groups provide the traditional bio technology to benefit bio-textiles design?
Guest and talkers:
Ming Jee Chang / Department of Fashion Design, Tainan University of Technology
Bo Hsiung Wang / Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI)
Ding Jeh Lin / Founder of Good Toad Studio
The questions in the first discussion panel were mostly related to the DIY culture, the response of maker artists to the event, plus the supply and demand and master-slave issues derived from the target community’s involvement in science and technology. Other questions revolved around whether the understanding of science and technology is suitable as a material element that the community has been relying on for a long time; and whether DIY activities with digital manufacturing elements can expand the practical application of traditional craftsmanship on the finished product. In the second session of the economic and technological discussion, Dr. Bo Xiong Huang was invited. Later, he mentioned in the article published on Medium by artist Ricardo about this symposium. So far, we have developed washable and removable wearable heartbeat monitoring products. I am also curious about the market for these heartbeat-sensing wearable fabrics. (This represents Taiwan ’s social development, marketing and European market. Not too far apart.) ??? In the third slide, the artists exemplified social plans for cooperation in technology, media, and traditional craftsmanship, and they all focused on mathematical coincidences commonly found in digital arts and crafts fabrics. Such common points often became Means for artists to create art, but it can also become a technology of “scientific and cultural collection culture” in electronic fabrics. For example, artist Jonathan mentioned the way of recording navigation paths in ancient sciences, such as the one that Polynesians developed from the Southeast Asia’s South Island immigrant culture. The navigation system attempts to use the ancient technology to discuss the possibility of cooperation between existing technology and traditional textiles. He also quoted the German theorist Friedrich Kittler: ‘What remains people is what media can store and communicate to emphasize the role of technology in cultural communication. , And the media itself has its subjectivity that develops according to logic, and is not an extension of human society.’ Tincuta proposed, for example, the term strategic media in the 1990s on how social activists use art to influence the mainstream economic and cultural direction. This symposium is generally discussed in a broad and shallow way. It mainly conveys the contemporary and artistic perspective and background of e-textiles. (From the 1990s, MIT developed small computers and Lily Pads to wear embroidery to modern Google The capacitive sensing textile interface Jacquard Project in collaboration with Livis, and finally the artist’s feedback regarding to this 10-days workshop experiences.
Introduction posters of the talk in symposium
Symposium Topic Conversation of Tribe Against Machine: A Nomadic Art-Society Project with Ethnic Culture & e-Textile community
Introduction
This symposium is a post e-Textile Summer Camp Taiwan 2017 event, aiming to deliver and share what happened and what’s been formed during this 10-days cultural exchanging experience to broader audience. E-Textile artists, new media artists, community movement workers, programmers
as well as anthropologists are gathering together to share their ideas and outlook in related to this first-ever event from “Tribe Against Machine” project, also to stimulate dialogues and visionary thoughts altogether. The core proposition of Tribe Against Machine is: how future and traditions can help to repair each other, and also aims to create a networking environment among these fading culture groups, as an alternative to furthering the use of future technologies that used to serve capitalism only. We therefore invite creators from different disciplines, artists, professionals and all the individuals who are interested in this topic to join this symposium, together we can imaging and descript various possibilities from the rendezvous of distinct, self-sufficient cultural groups and the new approaches to the use of technologies.
Session Description
[Session ONE] Technology: the wearable technology industry and the DIY culture
Artist Speakers: Martin De Bie, Audrey Briot, and Molmol Guo (20 mins for each artist)
In this session, speaker will share their thoughts and experience of how e-Textile technique are applied in nowadays wearable-tech industry. Furthermore, artists would also talk about how they use technology and art as an approach to advocate one’s notion or claim as a sprit from DIY movement. Other related discussion is this session might be how some new technology trends, such as IOT, AI and machine learning, Augmented Reality or Virtual reality, would be applied or get involved in Tribe Against Machine project or Fu-Zhi.
[Session TWO] Economics: e-Textile movement and the possibilities of new cultural/commercial model
Artist Speakers: Ricardo Nascimento and Mika Satomi (20 mins for each artist)
In the process of forming or running a cultural or art movement/project, we can never neglect the importance of establishing a self-sustainable economic model or platform. Same situation as talking about cultural preservation and ethnic cultural sustain. In this session, artist will share their experience in organizing as art-community movement, and their long time observation in the fashion/ethnic clothing industry. We would also like to discuss how tribal or DIY product could establish a new type of demand & supply cycle. How do they position themselves or even find a new approach in the highly commercialize fashion industry.
[Session THREE] Anthropology: culture archive and community art
Artist Speakers:：Yuma Taru, Claire Williams, Tincuta Heinzel (20 mins for each artist)
Tribe Against Machine is an annual event about ethnic culture, e-Textile art, and culture archive, and it’s also about an actual cultural exchange event. Speakers in this session will let us know their long-time action on culture preservation, and will also share their thoughts on how wearable technologies and e-Textile been applied in community project. Also, we’ll discuss related issues from the angle of anthropology, to understand more about human, tribe and distinctive cultures.
process photos of the symposium