Sonic Metaphors for Physical Sonification

In  art  and  design  practices,  materials  and  technology  are  means  of  expression  as  well  as  sources  of  inspiration.  On  the  other  hand,  in technical  development  processes  art  and  design  provide  meaning,  direction  and  expressions  of  functionality.  In  some  sense  this  duality  of perspectives  is  what  defines  the  loci  where  art,  design  and  technology  meet.  Over  the  past  ten  years,  the  Swedish  School  of  Textiles  have taken  part  in  the  ongoing  discussion  on  how  practice-­based  research  can  further  develop  our  understanding  of  the  expressiveness  inherent  in new  materials  and  new  technology.  In  this  context  it  is  clear  that  art,  design  and  technology  meet  in  the  lab  and  in  the  workshop.  However,  for discussions  across  borders  between  the  perspectives  of  art,  design  and  technology  we  need  meeting  places  outside  of  the  labs  and  the workshops  as  well.  The  Ambience  exhibition  is  an  exercise  in  building  such  a  meeting  place,  but  also  an  exercise  in  providing  conference space  for  interaction  between  artistic  practice  and  theory.  As  designers  and  artists  working  within  a  research  setting,  we  often  work  in  parallel with  writing,  presenting  conference  papers  and  exhibiting  in  different  arenas.  It  is  then  only  natural  to  include  two  ways  of  presenting  results  at a  conference  for  artistic  research;;  to  let  paper  presentations  and  exhibition  interact  to  create  wider  perspectives  and  deeper  understanding.  All exhibition  contributions  have  been  subject  to  a  peer  review  process  similar  to  the  review  process  paper  submissions  are  subjected  to.  And just  as  for  paper  submissions,  reviews  focus  on  originality  and  skills  with  respect  to  both  results  and  presentation.  This  exhibition  is  the  first  in the  series  of  Ambience  conferences.  The  conference  is  organized  by  the  University  of  Borås  in  cooperation  with  Tampere  University  of Technology  and  is  a  part  of  the  Smart  Textiles  Initiative  –  www.smarttextiles.se  In  this  catalogue  you  will  find  images,  artist  statements and/or  project  descriptions  presenting  the  works  displayed  at  the  exhibition.  Welcome  to  the  Ambience´11  exhibition!