TK 730 - V2_ Summer Sessions 2011


What happens when senses are cross-wired in the brain? Can data convey
different meanings when interpreted as a purely visual object? What other
ways of interpreting a single piece of data could there be?
This is what the TK Series attempts to explore.

This summer I have been working on an amazing project together with Anja Hertenberger, Ricardo O' Nascimento & Meg Grant. We were invited by V2_ to do a Summer Session, which means you get six weeks to work out your idea into a working prototype. In our case the idea was to create a knitting typewriter from scratch.

I am still amazed we realized this idea! To make it we hacked a scanner, two electronic typewriters and a knitting machine. We invented new mechanical parts, wrote software, fooled around with motors and designed a lasercutted case.
In short: the TK 730 converts a word into a black and grey knitwork. The machine contains a needle bed, every letter in the alphabet has a needle. If you type a word the machine alphabetises it and transforms these letters into black stitches. If a letter is not in your word it will become a grey stitch.



Check out our V2_ page for more photo's, video's and blogs about the process and result!

TK 730 in the NRC

Exporeview during Into the Great Wide Open, 3+4+5 september 2010


Expo[re]view was one of the 'Festivalvangers' during Into the Great Wide Open!
The resulting videos were placed on the mash-up site of the festival.

This was also the first possibility to try out the new version of my tie. I am happy to tell that everything was working well and the reactions of visitors were positive.

Expo[re]view was also one of the projects at Witte de With, during festival Wereld van Witte de With.

To see the results, click here and go to Guest Contributors > Expo[re]view.


On the left the guidelines for festival
Into the Great Wide Open
and on the right the guidelines for festival
De Wereld van Witte de With.

New prototype!!

At the moment I am attending an Arduino & Electronics workshop at my former school. This because I want to customize the spycams which I am using for Expo[re]view.
The first stap is to place the camera inside the tie and extend the standby/record button so it is possible for the visitor to control the recording. The battery & microphone will also be replaced for a better one.


And it is also time to think over the design and materials of the ties..

Expo[re]view @ Morality, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art Rotterdam

From December to June 2010, visitors of Witte de With will encounter a playful and empowering communication device: Expo[re]view by Leonie Urff, originally developed as her graduation project for the Master Media Design/Networked Media at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam.

Expo[re]view allows people to record and share their own personal experience and stories about artworks in an exhibition, wearing an oversize tie that bears a small video camera. At this moment, the resulting videos are all related to the Morality exhibitions and collected on their website.


For the result and more information: Witte de With

Article on the website of WdKA: Dutch or English

Besides on the Morality webplatform, the resulting videos are also presented on the platform I initially created for Expo[re]view. Click on the picture below to see, or go for more information about this platform to work