Last year, we discussed Mediamatic’s Electronic Embroidery event. Those designs are now returning for a new Open Source Embroidery exhibit at the Bildmuseum of Umea University in Sweden. The exhibit examines “how the open source software development model has been incorporated into the language of cultural participation.” Historically, it references the looms that inspired Charles Babbage’s difference engine. Interactively, it invites visitors to take a GPS-recorded walk around the city and sew their paths onto a giant canvas. Exciting stuff …. and very technocuddly. Perhaps the fashion world is ready for a new adage: “May your source be open and your seams closed tight!”

The iconic fabric of electronic embroidery