ITERATION 6 PRESENTATION SCRIPT:

Hello! I’m Daniel and I going to tell you about our imminent demise! As the generation born into late trickledown capitalist society, we’ve witnessed firsthand accounts of events projecting the collapse of the world as we know it: ie global warming, student debt crisis, the past month has been full of police riots that have ignited feverish debate over the interconnectivity of white power, the police state, and accountability/ the lack thereof for those in positions of authority, /sighs/ oh god what else I mean there’s rampant over pollution due to overproduction and the pacific garbage island is growing rapidly every day; y’know you get the picture I only have like 10 minutes to break this down so I’m just going to move on.

So think about the prospects for the future for the millennial generation in relation to the question: “what will end first: civilization or capitalism?” it’s no doubt that capitalism is what got us here but will it survive once it’s byproducts catalyze our demise? The future is an uncertain realm to exist in, what I’ll be referring to as, the “not yet here” in relation to the “here and now” in which we currently operate.  If the apocalypse is not tangibly foreseeable we can consider it to be a potentiality existing in the horizon: the mode of operation in which I refer to as “the apocalyptic horizon”.

So in regards to the question of “in a world full of too much stuff what is worth materializing?” my mind turns to the realm of fashion and clothing: a product that is dumped into landfills once it cannot be circulated in stores any longer for either being out of season or simply being of flawed quality. In addition to this, thoughtfully designed clothing items are presented a year before their release during institutions like “Fashion Weeks”, an act that is literally projecting aesthetics existing in the not yet here for the later consumption of them once the not yet here becomes the here and now.

The current influx of brands working within the aesthetic of the post apocalyptic, which examples can be found in a “VFILE” on my blog, exemplifies the symbiotic nature of pop culture (ie: we give pop culture its power, we succumb to pop’s power, pop feeds us as we give it power cyclically) and how projections of futurity often become self fulfilling prophecies. The significance of this aesthetic in relation to futurity is that these projections of the apocalyptic are, in a way, reflections of a dissatisfaction of the here and now, which is integral to the theory of queer futurity and utopianism. Jose Muñoz states that:

“Queerness is that thing that lets us feel that this world is not enough, that indeed something is indeed missing. Often we can glimpse the worlds proposed and promised by queerness and the realm of the aesthetic, frequently contains blueprints and schemata of a forward dawning futurity. Both the ornamental and the quotidian can contain a map of the utopia that is queerness. Turning to the aesthetic in the case of queerness is nothing like an escape from the social realm, insofar as queer aesthetics map future social relations… Queerness is essentially about the rejection of a here and now and an insistence on potentiality or concrete possibility for another world” (Muñoz, 1)

Incidentally, all of the heads of the fashion houses I have listed in my “VFILE” are queer identified and their work is an expression of a dissatisfaction of the here and now: aestheticized projections of the not yet here that will ultimately be fulfilled in what will later be the here and now. The queer artists and designers that have informed this conceptual foundation of this work of crafting blueprints towards utopian alternatives create work that are meant to arm, armor, defend against the impending doomsday that lurks in the horizon, revealing that possibly after Armageddon what will be left is queers, twinkies, and cockroaches. The notion that queerness has informed alternatives outside the here and now in order to ornament/adorn oneself for the environment of the apocalypse is an incredibly powerful statement that I assert is evident in the work I have done this quarter.

So if blueprints of utopianism are evident in queer aesthetics in the face of the apocalyptic horizon in the forms of the ornamental and quotidian, how can I make work with a 3d printer, an object that has been heavily projected with universality and accessibility in the future, and solve the issue of overproduction in the context of the garment industry? My answer is something of a cop out: overproduction in late capitalism is both an inevitability and one of the pillars upholding the apocalyptic horizon, so I created the “Kat’s Cradle” fabric which is constructed of circular chain mail style pieces that can be added and removed depending on the needs of the user. The practical application of this fabric is going to be put in use as a final product in the form of a bra for my best friend Kat, a queer identified transgender woman, that will be able to be manipulated throughout her transition as her estrogen treatments make her breasts grow.  This garment is in tandem with her physical actualization, embodying her identity is on the horizon in the face of a not yet here that plagues trans women. When we consider that trans women are 16 times more likely to be murdered purely due of hate violence, and that the lifespan of a trans woman is roughly 30-32 years old simply due to being a recipient of hate violence we can see that the here and now is not a place that is kind or forgiving to those who are most marginalized in our society. Life for trans women is survival, as is most life for the marginalized, but more so for trans women. In a time when queer and trans liberation is quantified in terms of assimilation to the late capitalist society that reinforces what oppresses us, this production garment is undeniably praxis of actualizing queer aesthetics in the face of the apocalyptic horizon as a reaction against the discontents of late capitalism.

When producing this garment, my intentionality was to create an object that solves the problem of overproduction through continual production of a solid object and the issue that clothing is garbage once we cannot fit into it, I ran into many obstacles. I realized I was not as proficient in CAD software as I thought, and on top of that I had zero experience with any sort of garment or fabric production so entering this work I was wholly unprepared. However through perseverance and multiple attempts at materialization I was able to come up with a semi large scale prototype that adequately illustrates the parameters in which the fabric operates.

It is really easy to write off fashion trends like “the post apocalyptic aesthetic” as passé but in actuality, doing so is disengaging with something that we are all a part of regardless of our consciousness to our own contributions. Upon further analysis of my “Kats Cradle”, an object that is an active doing for and toward the not yet here in response to the oppression existing in the here and now, the rings that can exist on their own become a more solid object in unity: similarly to the concept of intersections in the face of oppression helping lead to more productive discourses and solidarities. Intersections of transgender oppression are contingent with that of all oppressions, which I assert is part of the blueprinting of utopia that exists in the modality of queerness.

So in conclusion: using the machine that has been so heavily projected with being “the future” by making an object that tries to solve the problem with overproduction through gradual and constant production adorned as an ornament of a transgender body in relation to queer aesthetics and the apocalyptic horizon is contingent with the idea of subverting our here and now of pollution, overproduction, and violence thus answering the question of “what is worth materializing?”. If apocalypse is on the horizon, we may as well be dressed for it.

for those who have not yet seen this vfile from iteration 4 here are some of the visual examples of queer futurity embodied in the post apocalyptic

This is a process film about Hood By Air’s F/W 2014 show last year

a quote from a recent Vogue article on Venezuelan music producer Alejandro Ghersi aka Arca’s latest album “Xen”:

“Ghersi is part of a whole scene of artists who are connected by their subversive sense of futurism and gender play, including Mykki Blanco, the kids at Dis Magazine, and, most notably, Ghersi’s close friend and sometime collaborator Shayne Oliver, the designer of Hood By Air. If Hood By Air is the armor you wear to face the day as a contemporary gender queer, then Xen is the soundtrack.”

Frank, Alex. “Venezuelan Producer Arca on Gender, Hope, and His Brave New Album.” Vogue. Conde Naste, 4 Nov. 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2014. http://www.vogue.com/3622411/arca-producer-interview-xen/

This quarter we have been answering the question of “in a world full of too much crap what is an idea worth materializing?” by using 3d printers to explore materiality and design. My interest in materiality stems from Muñoz’s theory that “Both the ornamental and the quotidian can contain a map of the utopia that is queerness”, and that these blueprints of futurity pose alternatives outside the here and now, ours being a here-and-now of rampant pollution and overproduction, which upholds my theory of what I am referring to as “the post apocalyptic horizon” in which we currently operate. I intended on producing fabric in the vein of chainmail that could be added and subtracted as based on the users needs. This fabric is attempting to amend the issue that clothing becomes un-wearable once we grow out of it, seeing that clothing is deemed garbage once it runs out of season, and is dumped.

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The design for this fabric allows open rings to easily slip into each other forming links, but not slip out thus allowing the pieces to be built on easily over time. The pieces can also be removed with relative ease as well. In order to print chain mail the rings must be tilted at 45% and staggered, with the bottom removed. The fabric can be printed without a raft, but has more success with one, the only issue is removing the rings from the raft without breaking them.

This idea of a growable fabric reinforces the idea of the ornament of the garment, specifically the ornament of armory being one with the user and is in tandem with the work of queer designers working in the realm of aestheticizing the post apocalypse (click here for a vfile of visual examples). I came into this project knowing that I was going to produce an item that could be utilized by a loved one, in this instance, my best friend Kat. Kat is about to begin her transition and trans women have an average lifespan of 30-32 years old purely due to hate violence, are 20% more likely to be assaulted and are 16 times as likely to be murdered. These statistics are very upsetting to hear and more upsetting to experience. I am giving my friend customizable chain mail armor in the form of a bra, an object that I hope will grow with her in tandem as her breasts develop more during hormone treatments and as conceptual armor for gracing the world in the apocalyptic horizon.

This rough image acts as kindling in which to heat the flames underneath my project. After a mirad of failed prototypes ranging from hinged rings, jump rings, semicircular clips, clamps, and now open links. In CAD, chainmail is one of the simplest things generatable, yet the ability to print chainmail style fabric that can be continuously added to is proving to be quite difficult for the machine to process, as well as it difficult to design around fickle parameters. I’ve included my many failures as well as one in the process of happening that I took on my iPhone on 11/14, accompanied by a picture of a 3d printed bra (which, yes, I am aware exists thank you) and a closed chainmail style fabric. The quote i incorporated is the conceptual spine in which my project is based and from theorist Jose Muñoz. The figure at the bottom is Kat, my model and friend, who will be the recipient of this garment once this program is complete. This rough collage is a reflective of my current anxieties around this piece: the surmounting errors, the thesis I work to articulate, and the person I am doing this work for are all factors that are dependent on the completion of this work, and this honestly scares me. Although the completion of this project is being approached with trepidation, I have confidence that the end result will be cohesive and informative.

BIBLIO:
3D-printed-bra.jpg. 2012. Http://www.absplastic.eu. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. .
FOC-3d-printed-textiles.jpg. N.d. Freedomofcreation.com. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. .

In my previous iteration I prefaced my project with the framework of queer aesthetics as a means of negotiating what I am calling “apocalyptic horizon”, in conversation with Jose Muñoz’s theory that queerness is a horizon, a modality of survival. I realize that this theory is quite abstract upon first entry, however I shall attempt to unpack this theory by contextualizing it with work in the contemporary fashion movement that is categorized as “post-apocalyptic” of which is coming out of queer-headed fashion houses. I shall then put my own project of 3D-printing a bra made of chain mail that can be added and subtracted to depending on the constraints of the body into conversation with the theory of Muñoz and the work of post apocalyptic fashion houses. The model I am designing piece around is my dear friend Kat, a queer-identified trans woman in the midst of her transition, and ideally she will utilize this garment indefinitely as her body changes. I assert that the work I am attempting to actualize is worthy of materialization because it serves feminist value, attempts to create a dialogue about theories of queerness, apocalypse, futurity and is an effort to fix the problem of clothing’s disposability once it can no longer fit a body.
Currently in the New York fashion world, more and more younger brands are adopting the aesthetic of the post apocalyptic, which can be defined by characteristics including hyper-customization, hyper-branding, and utilitarianism. Brands like Hood By Air1, Telfar2, ASSK3 (of Paris), Eckhaus Latta4, and Luar Zepol5, in particular exemplify the aesthetic of the post apocalyptic as well as all being headed by queer designers. While queer people working in fashion is not necessarily something particularly new, the contingency of the post apocalyptic aesthetic contextualized by the modality of queerness in the aforementioned queer-identified designers’ work must not go without recognition and analysis. Because most lines are prepared a year in advance for commercial release, the post-apocalyptic aesthetic in relation to time is emblematic of the relationship of the millennial generation has with the future: one that is not necessarily forgiving to those inheriting the environment, economy, and hegemonic social order. The aesthetic may be envisioning a future less bright, however the work of the post apocalyptic in relationship to queer aesthetics shows a resiliency and an armory for the body despite it. I assert that the horizon of queerness as a modality is in tandem with post apocalypse as a potentiality.
In the thesis of “Cruising Utopia”, Muñoz defines queerness not as sexuality but a modality in relation to futurity:
“Queerness is that thing that lets us feel that this world is not enough, that indeed something is indeed missing. Often we can glimpse the worlds proposed and promised by queerness and the realm of the aesthetic, frequently contains blueprints and schemata of a forward dawning futurity. Both the ornamental and the quotidian can contain a map of the utopia that is queerness. Turning to the aesthetic in the case of queerness is nothing like an escape from the social realm, insofar as queer aesthetics map future social relations. Queerness is a performative because it is not simply a being but a doing for and toward the future. Queerness is essentially about the rejection of a here and now and an insistence on potentiality or concrete possibility for another world” (Muñoz, 1)

The mapping of future social relations though queer aesthetics is a modality of futurity, a relationship with time extending beyond the realm of sexuality into the realms of ornament, space, and relation through the envisioning of an alternative to the here and now. The “here and now” shows little promise to those inheriting the future, which I am referring to as “the apocalyptic horizon”, in which we currently operate. The apocalyptic horizon is a potentiality in which queer futurity rejects the here and now and proposes another other world in which the meek have inherited the earth.
One of the conceptual pillars upholding the apocalyptic horizon structure is environmental collapse, often the garments of the post-apocalyptic aesthetic are meant to interact with an environment of post apocalypse, for example: ASSK’s redesign of RealTree print camouflage including items such as iPhones, BIC lighters, prescription pills, and other objects that exist the here and now that are associated with modern day survivalism:
“The ASSK Fall / Winter 2013-14 collection is inspired by survivalists, a hard core subculture, found most predominantly in middle America. ‘Preppers’ are readying for the end of life as we know it. But the collection explores the average person, taken completely unaware, in an apocalypse that is a bit of a disappointment… roaming around middle America, scavenging for prescription drugs and out of date junk food snacks, aimlessly filling in time, waiting for nothing. The brand does not divide it’s collection into male and female looks, instead the majority of the collection can be easily worn by either sex.” (Kowalewski, Schofield)
The joining of a utilitarian garment such as a camouflaged jacket with objects of the modern day, the here-and-now, envisions a future less bright combatted through garments that are meant to interact with the projected environment, while also not gendering the object. By not gendering the object, we can glimpse into a future in which the biopower of the gender binary does not exist projected by the object as a rejection of the hegemonic here and now.


(Pictured above: ASSK’s apocalyptic take on RealTree)

I asked myself: how does the body adapt to its changing environment and what are the constraints that the body must adapt to in order to survive? In my own projection of the future less bright, garments must no longer be objects that become disposed of once they are outgrown or once a body cannot fit comfortably in them. My solution to this problem is a detachable chain mail fabric that can be added onto or subtracted depending on the constraints of the body. My design is based on printing sheets upon sheets of semicircles that contain an opening and a closing of a clasp when joined together, which can then be linked like typical chain mail. When I think about bodies in constant states of change, my mind turns to a friend whose body is undergoing states of change while taking hormones for her transition. Kat is a woman who was assigned male at birth and transition is a performance of physical actualization, a rejection of her here-and-now of the current constraints of her body and the imposed gender assignment of her parents at birth, the physical embodiment of her womanhood in the horizon. Kat soon will be developing breasts during her hormone treatments, and I seek to make her a bra out of this chain mail fabric that she can add onto as her breasts grow, an armor of sorts in the face of the apocalyptic horizon. While I cannot guarantee the comfort of a 3d printed bra hinders the object’s functionality, the conceptual aim of this project is more so the focus than trying to create a marketable and functional object.

(pictured above: the prototypical rendering of the clips)

In my imagination of the near future, technology will have meshed closer with the human form: the line between animate and inanimate object eventually converging. In relation to futurity, this bra is being materialized with a MakerBot Desktop Replicator 2 3D-Printer, a device heavily associated with the technologically advanced near future and the potentialities along with it. The act of making a garment that is set to have function in the not yet here while becoming a part of the body it frames is a physical manifestation of a concept that exists in the imagination, in the potentiality of the future. Donna Haraway theorizes on the connection between the future and imagination by stating:
“High-tech, gendered imaginations are produced here, imaginations that can contemplate destruction of the planet and a sci-fi escape from its consequences. More than our imaginations is (are) militarized; and the other realities of electronic and nuclear warfare are inescapable. These are the technologies that promise ultimate mobility and perfect exchange…” (Haraway, 17)
This outlook on the apocalypse being entwined with the perpetual advancement of technology denotes a militarized imagined future. The “realities” Haraway speaks of exist in the not yet here, yet we are following the forward trajectory of technological advancement so it can be seen as a tangible potentiality. My object follows in the same beam cast by this projected reality, armor for the horizon of obstacles unknown in a time period marked by uncertainty. In this time of uncertainty, we can imagine the other worlds promised through the modality of queerness as a means of combatting the apocalyptic horizon, and I am to combine the technological with the theoretical/intangible through the materialization of this garment.

BIBLIO
Muñoz, José Esteban. Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. New York: New York UP, 2009. Print.
Haraway, Donna. “Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991), Pp.149-181.” Donna Haraway. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
1. Hawgood, Alex. “Hood by Air Has a Fashion Moment.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
2.Duncan, Fiona. “Forever 69: Postgenderism Is Fashion’s Future, Our Future.” Bullett Media. Bullett Media, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.
3.”ASSK· about.” ASSK. ASSK, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.
4. Strange Touch – Style Bubble.” Style Bubble. N.p., 21 Oct. 2012. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
5. “LUAR ZEPOL SS15 VIDEO.” Vimeo. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

Daniel Loose
Sarah Williams
Making Meaning Matter: The Ornament of Materiality
10/20/14

BLUE RABBIT PROJECT ITERATION ONE: CONFRONTING THE APOCOLYPTIC HORIZON THROUGH QUEER AESTHETICS AS A MEANS OF SURVIVAL

“Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.”

Which will end first: society or capitalism? The answer to this question may be too far off in the distance to definitively answer, however the horizon of the collapse of society looms over the heads of the millennial generation who are in the midst of confronting the energy crisis, global warming, overwhelming gendered violence, tensions between marginalized people and the police, being the largest holders of financial debt due to student loans (which were intended for survival in the capitalist economy), and a disassociation between the consumers and the producers of food and sustenance. Apocalypse may not necessarily be imminent, however millennials must constantly consider preparations for a future that we know will not be kind to us, and that living will not be merely living: life will be survival.
How do we confront the apocalyptic horizon? Informing this question, I draw upon the work done by queer and trans* artists and theorists whose practices are simultaneous negotiations of existence and survival. To inform this we turn to Queer theorist Jose Esteban Muñoz in his book “Cruising Utopia” discussing the relationship of queer aesthetics and futurity in his explanation of the concept of “queerness as horizon”:

“Queerness is that thing that lets us feel that this world is not enough, that indeed something is indeed missing. Often we can glimpse the worlds proposed and promised by queerness and the realm of the aesthetic, frequently contains blueprints and schemata of a forward dawning futurity. Both the ornamental and the quotidian can contain a map of the utopia that is queerness. Turning to the aesthetic in the case of queerness is nothing like an escape from the social realm, insofar as queer aesthetics map future social relations. Queerness is a performative because it is not simply a being but a doing for and toward the future. Queerness is essentially about the rejection of a here and now and an insistence on potentiality or concrete possibility for another world” (Muñoz, 1)

We can understand that the “world promised” informed by the “something missing” is the alternative to the current society in which we live: queerness could be that alternative to a society where efficient capitalism is supported through the hegemonic family unit and gender binary. Muñoz’s theory of the “not-yet-here” of queerness as horizon can act as the counterpoint to the impending “not-yet-here” of apocalypse. This thesis provides the conceptual framework for the work I intend to do in the following weeks.
In the discussion of specific queer artists working on the concept of post-apocalypse and futurity I draw upon a specific form that must survive in the capitalist market in order to have succeed to stay alive and to generate material: fashion. The contemporary fashion market is embracing technology without trepidation as seen in Iris Van Herpen’s 2015 SS collection featuring industrially 3d printed garments and Vogue Japan’s recent front page featuring the Apple iWatch, yet the contemporary fashion market’s younger houses are confronting the future and technology in a more abrasive and conceptual way. Specifically the fashion houses of Hood by Air, Luar Zepol, and TELFAR (all headed by QPOC designers) are negotiating a future less bright, armed against the horizon of apocalypse with the horizon of queerness.
It is with the work and presentations of the aforementioned artists and designers I shall counterbalance my current project that I find to be in alignment with the queer post apocalyptic aesthetic movement in contemporary fashion. I intend to construct a 3d-printed bra that can be added onto over time as a body’s breasts changes over time, thus contravening the inherent design flaw that that once we outgrow clothing the garment becomes useless for the owner. The model I am using for this project is my dear friend Kat, a Cornish College of the Arts student, whose work incidentally deals with post apocalypse. Kat is a trans woman, who is early in her transition, and the development of her breasts from hormone supplements is a key part of her developing a stronger sense of bodily autonomy. I believe that the way one dresses and adorns themselves is pivotal to developing a healthy sense of autonomy, an attribute necessary for surviving the current social atmosphere as well as the unforeseen ones.
I know that in regards to the question: “in a world full of too much plastic what are ideas worth materializing?” many would object to my answer being clothing considering that large-chain clothing gets dumped in massive quantities when it goes out of season or runs out of outlet circulation. However I am attempting to materialize a garment that thwarts the problem of clothing becoming un-wearable or becoming waste after bodies can no longer fit in it by creating a fabric structure that can be added onto or subtracted from over time depending on the constraints of the body it houses. I plan to juxtapose the work I am doing in this project with those of queer and trans* identified artists and theorists working in the realms of post apocalypse and utopic queer theory and put my work in conversation with the sources that helped inspire this project. The task of constructing a one of a kind garment is a project I have never attempted before and hopefully the outcome will prove worthy of comparison to the likes the aforementioned artists as well as helping a close friend on her journey through womanhood through a process of adorning her with personalized armor. I assert that the work I intend to do serves a utilitarian and feminist purpose while working within the constraints of the capitalist medium of fashion in order to fix the gaps in which the marginalized fall through.
I do not know what lies in the future, but I am positive that we will be well dressed for it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Muñoz, José Esteban. “Feeling Utopia.” Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. New York: New York UP, 2009. 1. Print.

Brown, Jacob. “Post-Apocalyptic Warriors and Voguing on the Runway at Hood by Air Men’s Fall 2014.” Vogue. Conde Naste, 9 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

“Stylee Fridays: Telfar Spring 08.” The FADER. The FADER Inc, 07 Dec. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

@lilgovernment. “NYFW: Luar Zepol SS14 Was Refreshingly Filler-Free.” Bullett Media. Bullett Media, 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.