Network Obsession

Network Obsession is a prototype for a wearable with an intentional short life cycle. Its intention is to be worn a few times and illustrate a different side of an idea to evoke thoughts and debate, similar to the aims of the Provocative Technology Group at the PLAY Studio. Its focus was to bring about discussion around our obsessions with network and how the obsession manifests itself in the devices we carry and wear. It is not intended as any kind of technological advancement and resembles more an industrial age material, cogwheels, wires and motors then the virtual materials of computation. Network Obsession is about desire for connectivity and the constraints it is possible to create in your everyday life. It is a shirt that fits normally when the wearer has good connectivity with the cellular phone network. As the wearer gradually moves out of range of the cellular network, wires attached to the cuffs of the shirt are drawn in by a motor, limiting the movement of the wearer's arms. In this way Network Obsession highlights the clash between virtual desires, such as the desire to be available via cell phone, and physical desires, such as the desire to be able to move about freely.