visiweave

This project is a braiding of two lines of research

• an exploration of what it means to experience computing as being embedded in a communal, cultural, and spatial fabric.
• the development of a design medium and environment for paper weaving

What does it me mean for computing to be embedded in a communal, cultural, and spatial fabric?

slides・from a presentation on this project at Convivial Computing Salon

At my home the process of weaving a heart is a social and spatial affair. A process where the paper weaving designs I make interact spatially with the ones woven by my great grandfather.

VisiWeave resulted from a process situated in a cultural, communal, and historical context. It is part of a deep network of culture and history.

In his book Tools for Conviviality (1973) Ivan Illich (1926 - 2002) talked of conviviality as a communal practice existing in space “I choose the term 'conviviality' to designate the ... autonomous and creative intercourse among persons, and of persons with their environment.”

I feel that the conviviality of VisiWeave is directly tied to my ability to articulate the space and community the tool is embedded in and grew out of.

The design of VisiWeave grew out of a living cultural practice. Conviviality is embedded in process - it is local and situated - and, for me, represents one path forward where computational tools are created with a consciousness of the historical and cultural environment.

A design medium and environment for paper weaving

Weaving is a binary art - Heinz Zemanek

visiweave.com・a prototype environment github・repo for the environment

The design of this medium flows from the notion that embracing computational media can enrich the practice of paper weaving.

It is inspired in spirit and practice by work within the fields computational weaving, computational origami, and paper mechatronics.

There are many challenges associcated with paper weaving design. A significant barrier is how one is often forced to work with several representations at the same time. For example, one often has to work with the componenent pieces of a weaving design while thinking about what the final interlacement of the pieces will look like.

VisiWeave adresses this challenge by making it possible to work directly with the final, woven, representation of the design.