Extreme Textile: Smart Textiles Get First Museum Exhibition
May 16, 2005 | Levent OZLER
The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is presenting an aspect of the 21st century science that has been given little public attention in the form of an enlightening exhibition of smart fibers and fabrics that will eventually change all our lives.
"Extreme Textile: Designing for High Performance" is the first U.S. display of functional industrial textiles ever mounted and can be seen at the Cooper-Hewitt, a component of the Smithsonian Institution, through Oct. 30.
It is expected to be one of the most heavily visited shows in the Manhattan museum's 108-year history.
Matilda McQuaid, the exhibition's curator, said she selected the 150 examples of technical textiles on the basis of visual beauty as well as high engineering because there is "plenty of ugly stuff out there."
As a result, the show has a high aesthetic quotient that makes visitors want to touch and stroke, and a number of displays are clearly designated as touchable.
The material on exhibit ranges from a doily-size machine embroidery made of suture thread in the shape of a snowflake, to be implanted as connective tissue during reconstructive shoulder surgery, to a model of a 40-story skyscraper (Testa Architects, Los Angeles) constructed of a cross-hatched lattice made of carbon fiber that is stronger than steel.
The super-strong outer walls allow
more: spacedaily.com/news/materials-05r.html (793)
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