All mirrors
two interactive garments that react to the observer’s gaze
soft mirrors, glass, silicone, medical cotton gauze, gold, electronic components
2024
In the era of AI and the quest for perfection, does our image through others' eyes shape our reality ? The garments, crafted from soft mirrors, medical cotton gauze refined with 18-carat gold finishing and electronic components, are activated by the gaze of the observer when they look at themselves in the soft mirrors. This clothing-soft mirror interface reinforces the impression of virtuality and reality. The reflected image creates a dual impression: that of the observed garment and that of the garment observing us.
Mirrors offer a perspective: more a reality than a truth. Given their fragmentation, we can speak of multiple perspectives able to be contained within a single gaze or movement of the eyes. The manifold reflections of a glassy, supple, and broken up surface evoke an ambiguous ensemble, a reassembled reality. As Umberto Eco so beautifully put it, mirrors provide both an impression of virtuality and an impression of reality. The tangible world is dematerialized, given into the register of images.
Integrated into a piece of clothing and worn, the mirror becomes almost intentional: it anchors itself to the movements of the person who brings it to life, its diverse reflections looking out. Through this proactive behavior, it keeps us at a distance all while containing us: a retention/distortion of our own image occurs, with or without our knowing or consenting. The reflective surface—a flexible material combining both glass and silicone—is itself set in motion by a robotic system that renders the distorting effect all the more dynamic. A garment is always a relational agent although often, by and large, passive. As materials go, a pliable mirror demands and reinforces the potential for interrelation and connection created by the garment’s interface. The image of oneself (re)portrayed by the clothing of the other, distorted because fragmented, becomes the motif of a bipartite impression—that of the garment we are looking at, and that of the garment contemplating us.
Photos: Malina Corpadean
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