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Written by PABlo Bley aka Paul Alan Bley. Posted in 21st Century Technoid Man.

...21st Century Technoid Man

just in case you were wondering...

Cat's foot iron claw
Neuro-surgeons scream for more
At paranoia's poison door.
Twenty first century schizoid man.

Blood rack barbed wire
Polititians' funeral pyre
Innocents raped with napalm fire
Twenty first century schizoid man.

Death seed blind man's greed
Poets' starving children bleed
Nothing he's got he really needs
Twenty first century schizoid man.

The album was titled In The Court Of The Crimson King. I believe the lyrics were written by a fellow named Peter Sinfield. - King Crimson lyrics, circa 1969.

 

 

What do you get when you combine the creativity of traditional arts and crafts with new technologies?

Interactive Installations and Multimedia Art

Fascinating new interfaces and innovative product designs. These days we use technology to design complex shapes, create modern music and extend the tangible uses of human manipulative ability.

  • The Interactive Fuzzy Light Wall

    An innovative smart textile installation created by International Fashion Machines (IFM), a design studio founded by artist and researcher Maggie Orth. The piece has been famously showcased at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, serving as a pioneering example of electronic textiles (e-textiles) and physical computing.

  • Key Features of the Installation

    • Material Composition: The wall is constructed from custom-woven, tufted conductive textiles blended with soft yarns, giving it a distinctively touchable, "fuzzy" texture.
    • Interactive Lighting: Integrated into the fabric are tufted light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that change color and pattern when a user interacts with the surface.
    • Capacitive Touch: The fabric itself acts as a massive sensor. It uses human capacitance to detect physical touch or closeness, triggering a responsive, dynamic display of glowing colors across the soft wall.

  • Design Significance

    The piece is celebrated in the design community for shifting technology away from hard, rigid screens and moving it toward seamless, soft architectural surfaces. By embedding electronics directly into traditional materials, IFM demonstrated early on how interior design elements like wallpaper and paneling could become interactive, playful, and expressive media.