Anke Jakob: Blurring the edges between the real and the virtual – the synthesis of material and light
Bath Spa University, PhD candidate in Textile Design
The paper and its subject emerges from my current research as a PhD candidate in Textile Design at Bath Spa University, UK, which explores the interaction between material, light and image - playing with our visual perception. The argument within the paper focuses on conditions leading to the synthesis of physical surface and digital imagery. The subject is explained on the basis of my creative practise and research as textile designer working with digital media.
The contextual background is provided by references to current tendencies in Western culture, such as the emergence of an increasing desire for the playful, the seductive and the illusionary combined with a request for flexibility and multi-functionality. The paper looks into the impact of this trend on design and architecture, referring to examples of recent, realised projects within architecture and design, as well as to examples of alternative forms of digitally managed display techniques.
By following the progress of my research, the paper discusses the notion of visual ambiguity and mutability as a design intention as well as the aim to link digital display with materiality – resulting in working with light and projections. Light is an important mediator between the physical and the digital, as digital data are mostly visualised through light. A projection is an image composed by light; it is a physical fact, but also has a very ephemeral and elusive existence, is an optical medium of illusion.
The paper describes performed experiments and their results, whereby the notion of visual transformation and spatial illusion is central to the investigation. The work spans from projecting graphics and patterns onto the human body, to visually modifying spatial settings by applying projections, to exploring materiality and surface qualities. Light reveals a material’s optical and visual qualities; the interplay between material and light can deceive our eye. Here the paper briefly explains the ambiguity of human vision founded within the psychological and physiological conditions of visual perception.
The paper concludes with perspectives on further research and on possibilities of application. It further discusses working interdisciplinary as a chance for textile designers, challenging their role and position within the context of recent trends in design and architecture, since the fields of activities have become blurred.