Makery

The interactive garment that connects you to the cosmos

Afroditi Psarra and Cécile Lapoire working on the “Cosmic Bitcasting” prototype. © Afroditi Psarra

Do you dream of having the power to feel invisible cosmic signals? Soon maybe, all you will have to do is put a very tech garment on, the Cosmic Bitcasting, a stylized transparent tunic equipped with a cosmic radiation detection system. The project is not the work of some visionary person believing he is a novice Jedi, but of the very serious Cécile Lapoire, researcher in particle physics, and Afroditi Psarra, all-rounder media artist, already behind Kinetic Origami.

Cosmic Bitcasting is born from “the will to connect the human body with the cosmos by creating a garment with embedded actuators (light, sound and vibration) that deliver sensory information on cosmic radiations that surround us”. At the crossroads of astrophysics, fashion-tech and artistic performance, the tunic will allow the people who wear it to record all the data on cosmic radiations that go through them.

The prototype was developed as part of a one-month residence at the Etopia in Saragossa (Spain). The Greek and French women first carried out tests with two Arduino kits combined with DIY Geiger-Müller tubes (to measure radiations). Drawing inspiration from Juliana Cherston’s open-source project (Juliana is a student at the MIT fablab), they devised their sensor-circuit that they embedded in the item of clothing.

“Cosmic Bitcasting” presentation video:

The prototype is exhibited until September at Etopia.

Find out more about “Cosmic Bitcasting” and Afroditi Psarra