intelligent agent Vol. 8 No. 1 - Social Fabrics print issue now available. It can be ordered as hardcover and paperback (here) or downloaded for free as PDF. It features the catalog of the Social Fabrics fashion & technology exhibition (curated by Susan Ryan and Patrick Lichty) of the Leonardo Educational Forum at the 2008 College Art Association conference. Essays:

Susan Elizabeth Ryan, What is Wearable Technology Art? Susan Ryan proposes that wearable technology projects contribute to a history of projects that might not seem to be linked together or thought of as part of a cohesive practice.

Patrick Lichty, Building a Culture of Ubiquity - Patrick Lichty’s presentation, originally given at the Emotional Architectures summit at the Banff New Media Institute in 2000, illustrates changes in the culture of ubiquity that is based on the proliferation of (mobile information devices) and discusses the impact of wearable computing on the relationships between body and space.

Susan Elizabeth Ryan, Dress For Stress: Wearable Technology and the Social Body - Susan Ryan considers the work of artists, designers, and activists who, since the 1990s, have worked with clothing as survival mechanism and social tool — a “body of records” of technological, biological, and performable wearables that are vehicles for ideas and collective experience.

Susan Elizabeth Ryan, A Virtual Interview with Geert Lovink - Susan Ryan discusses communication- oriented wearable technology with media theorist, critic, and activist Geert Lovink who teaches at the Institute for Networked Cultures, University of Amsterdam.

Laura Beloff, The Curious Apparel: Wearables and The Hybronaut - Laura Beloff investigates wearable artistic experiments that explore concepts related to ubiquitous computing and to the merger of virtual and physical space in a hybrid space. In her research, she introduces the figure of the Hybronaut, a person coupled with a wearable device, who exists in hybrid space.

Daniela Kostova and Olivia Robinson, Negotiations - Negotiations by Daniela Kostova and Olivia Robinson, an interactive performance system consisting of two connected costumes, explores issues of cross-cultural communication using readily available digital effects and surveillance technologies.

Anne-Marie Skriver Hansen, The Body-as-Interface: A possibility to merge mind spaces with hybrids of physical and virtual worlds The essay proposes a set of ideas behind physical interfaces that provide us with the ability to express abstract concepts in the hybrid of virtual and physical worlds. It considers the types of communication that may arise as a result from the linking of body and mind, and it debates the use of stimulus in the communication with other people and our surroundings.

Sarah Kettley, Crafting the Wearable Computer - Sarah Kettley outlines a novel methodology for the development of computational wearable artefacts as everyday sites for authentic engagement. This methodology comprises a set of preliminary protocols for craft in design, a novel approach to the identification of distributed user groups, and a new method for the evaluation of wearable artefacts.

intelligent agent is a service organization and information provider dedicated to interpreting and promoting art that uses digital technologies for production and presentation.

Editor-in-Chief: Patrick Lichty
Director: Christiane Paul