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Milliefiore Effect
Ralph Borland
Jesica Findley
Margot Jacobs

artist statement | technical statement | process



process
Millefiore_Effect - that's us. We met in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. Interested in each other's work lead to work on a project together. Our varied backgrounds inform our work: Ralph studied sculpture, Margot, industrial design and Jessica, performance. We were all interested in creating work that used interactive devices and environments to elicit and facilitate emotional responses and communication between people.

FRONT developed from the idea of creating something wearable that would change in response to the wearer. We thought of analogies to certain animals that have the means for very physical expression of their internal state. We set out, not to dress the user as an animal, but to create a similar means of expression.

Inflatables interested us, so that was an obvious choice. We experimented with gluing and sealing plastic until we found that under the positive inflation sewing was sufficient. It also created interesting 'drawings' across our suits. Hairdryers worked perfectly as fans - thanks AdLib.

We all work with sound, and found it to be a sufficient analogy for emotions that are more difficult to track. We do have plans for variations that monitor other body processes.

We liked the idea of a pair of suits in a symbiotic relationship, so we created the self-contained FRONT. We are busy working on FRONT 2, in which the suits are networked to each other from separate, remote locations. Millefiore_Effect: taking it to the next level... 2002.