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Floating fibres

coined the phrase ‘domesticating data’ to describe the

process of putting data into more lay, or accessible

modes. The ‘Floating Fibres’ project uses environmental data

and the water levels of the River Taff, to inform the weave/

pattern of textiles.

Thinking about the language of textiles and water – ‘a

blanket of water’ / ‘the river wove through the city’ and the

shared language of data and weaving, using binary systems to

communicate, is totally fascinating to me and was a driving force

behind the project.

To harvest the data, I collaborated with Adam Williams, of the

Raspberry Pi Foundation. We set up a series of LoRaWAN nodes

along the river, capturing snapshots of the environment at timed

intervals over several weeks. The data was then analysed and

cross-referenced using free and open-source tools before being

interpreted into the pattern and then woven using a Jacquard loom.

My wider art practice looks at the management of information

and the construction or evolution of spaces; it stimulates thinking

around value and disposability.

This project set out to show that data can be creatively useful

and that our city rivers are meaningful and valuable in a modern

context. The blanket indicates that the river has a ‘voice’, hidden

communicators/rhythms revealed in the textiles’ pattern.

By Johana Hartwig hsmag.cc/DAbqQY

I

Right

We appreciate

the throwback to

early computing

represented by

the use of a

Jacquard loom