Knitting Interactive Spaces: Fabricating Data Physicalizations of Local Community Visitors with Circular Knitting Machines
Lee Jones, Greta Grip, Boris Kourtoukov, Varvara Guljajeva, Mar Canet Sola, Sara Nabil (2024)
Abstract
Innovations in digital fabrication technologies are increasingly enabling artists and designers to create data physicalizations in real time. In this paper, we discuss how we adapted a circular knitting machine to physicalize visitors at a local art gallery during the pandemic recovery year. To evaluate this year-long installation, we conducted design critiques with 15 individuals including those who worked in the building and lived alongside it for a year, as well as subject matter experts. We then iteratively worked with 11 of those individuals to gain insights for re-deploying the visualization for interpretation. Overall, this paper contributes long-term reflections and recommendations for using digital fabrication for real-time data physicalizations.
Venue: International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI ’24), Cork, Ireland.