Dutch artist Bart Hess envisions a new kind of wearables, but not the blinky-glowy or 3D-printed kind we usually feature on our blog. A model is lowered into a wax tub, and lifted out once the wax partially dry, clothed in an ethereal set of white wing like protrusions. via designboom. Hess explains:
Our bodies are endlessly photographed, monitored and laser scanned with millimetre precision. from this context of surveillance, facial recognition, avatars and virtual ghosts, we imagine a near future where digital static, distortions and glitches become a new form of ornament. for the youth tribes of future perfect the body is a site for adaption, augmentation and experimentation. they celebrate the corruption of the body data by moulding within their costumery all the imperfections of a decaying scan file. shimmering in the exhibition landscape is a network of geometric reflective pools of molten wax. their mirrored surface is broken by a body, suspended from a robotic harness, plunging into the liquid. a crust of wax crystallises around its curves and folds, growing architectural forms, layer by layer, like a 3D printer drawing directly onto the skin. slowly the body emerges, encased in a dripping wet readymade prosthetic. it is a physical glitch, a manifestation of corrupt data in motion, a digital artefact. they hang from hooks like a collection of strange beasts and frozen avatars. body prints, imperfect and distorted and always utterly unique.