A transdisciplinary exploration of memory and place through immersive textile installations rooted in traditional craft techniques and digital augmentation

Project Abstract

This project investigates how memory and place can be reactivated and reinterpreted through immersive textile installations that fuse traditional craft techniques with cutting-edge digital augmentation, aiming to recast everyday spaces as intimate sites of cultural memory. Drawing on transdisciplinary methods from fine and applied arts, textile design, digital media, and memory studies, the research interrogates how materiality, haptic resonance, and performative interaction contribute to sense of place and personal or collective recall. The study deploys a layered methodology archival research and ethnographic interviews with artisans and community members to map craft histories; phenomenological observation of audience experiences with textile environments; and iterative practice-led experimentation where weaving, embroidery, and dyeing are combined with sensors, projection mapping, augmented reality, and generative algorithms. A core theoretical aim is to articulate how textile modalities—texture, weight, translucency, and weave structure—mediate embodiment and affect, enabling participants to navigate memory as a spatial and temporal practice rather than a static archive. The project unfolds through a sequence of installations anchored in specific locales, each re-presented through modular textiles that can be reconfigured in response to visitor interaction and environmental data, thereby offering dynamic landscapes of memory that shift with each encounter. Methodologically, the research employs design-based research cycles, critical discourse analysis of craft discourses, and participatory co-creation sessions with communities to ensure ethical representation and ownership of memory narratives. The role of digital augmentation is to expand perceptual affordances without erasing material tactility, using projection, light, touch-responsive surfaces, and data-driven patterns that are anchored to traditional motifs. The ethical dimension addresses the ownership of memory, consent in representing communities, and the potential commodification of cultural heritage; strategies include participatory design workshops, transparent authorship protocols, and open-access documentation of process and outcomes. Expected outcomes include a portfolio of immersive textile installations, a framework for integrating traditional craft with digital media in memory-centric discourse, and a curatorial guide for socially engaged art practice. The research contributes to theory by proposing a model of memory as situated, embodied, and place-responsive, and to practice by offering scalable methodologies for artists and designers to create interactive textile environments that respectfully foreground local identities. Overall, the project seeks to illuminate how craft-based technologies can become living archives, inviting diverse audiences to encounter memory as a shared, sensorial journey through space, time, and materiality.

Project Overview

What This Project Is About

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A hands-on study exploring how memories of places can be expressed through handmade textiles and digital ideas. The project combines traditional sewing, weaving, or embroidery with simple digital elements like projections or sensors to create immersive installations that visitors can walk through and feel.

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The Problem It Addresses

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Many communities lose stories of places when older crafts fade and memories are not recorded. This project investigates how to keep those memories alive by making tangible textile works that people can touch and experience, while using accessible digital tools to expand storytelling.

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Objectives of the Project

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1. Learn basic traditional textile techniques and adapt them for installation work.
2. Experiment with simple digital augmentation that enhances storytelling without overpowering the handmade vibe.
3. Create a small-scale immersive piece that expresses a specific memory or place.
4. Document the process and outcomes in a clear, shareable format.

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What You Will Do Step by Step

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1) Select a place or memory and gather visual or tactile references. 2) Learn and practice core textile techniques. 3) Design a minimal installation plan integrating textiles with light or projection. 4) Build the installation and test with peers. 5) Collect feedback and refine. 6) Produce a final piece and a short write-up describing decisions. 7) Reflect on what worked and what could improve.

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Expected Outcome

A tangible textile installation that evokes memory and place, paired with a simple digital element to guide interpretation. The project will yield a working piece, supporting images or videos, and a brief report explaining how traditional crafts and digital ideas complemented each other.