Liana Bandziulyte
Cirque du Soleil's 3D Printed Fashion
As sponsors of the 3D Printing Techzone, we here at Personalize are currently soaking in the sights and sounds of International CES 2014 in Las Vegas. The one thing other than gambling you cannot escape in Las Vegas is Cirque du Soleil. The French Canadaian entertainment company have eight shows on hard rotation at resorts up and down the strip.
As well as the stage shows Cirque now have a nightclub at Mandalay Bay, the LIGHT is put together by those incredibly creative minds combining Cirque’s cutting edge shows with world renowned DJs.
On New Year’s Eve, "The Light" launched new designs by renowned Fashion-Tech Designer Anouk Wipprecht as a celebratory crowd rang in 2014.
They invited Anouk to explore her work on wearable electronics and experiment with a set of technology-equipped, coordinated performance pieces to enhance the Cirque du Soleil experience. In turn, Anouk integrated techno-teasing and interactivity into her creations to compliment the mindset that Cirque du Soleil stages. On New Year's Eve, her effect- based designs found their match in the technical marvel that surrounded the nightclub. Among these designs were elements designed in collaboration with Italian architect Niccolo Casas and 3D printed by Materialise.
This event marked the second collaboration between Anouk Wipprecht, Niccolo Casas and Materialise (the first being the Smoke Dress) and continued Anouk and Niccolo’s study on how to combine the body and technology with 3D Printing. The 3D printed elements were brought to life through Laser Sintering and hosted four independently controlled shoulder pieces with strobe- effect 20W High Power LEDs shining through the shape. With wireless synchronisation as part of the animation control system, Anouk and her team (Matt Pinner and Daniel Schatzmayr) developed an independent interface based on custom made PCB boards connected with an network adaptor to a credit-card-sized Linux-based Beagle Bone. All together, this simplified the rapid deployment process by having an minimum power footprint. TouchOSC (Beagle Bone uses Android 4.0) enabled the designs to be controlled within the unpredictable realms of the tunes and beats of the venue.
During CES 2014 The Light will combine out of this world cutting edge technology with pulsing electronic music of the world's top DJ's during a full evening of performances and acrobatics with Cirque du Soleil's highly skilled team. Anouk Wipprecht’s designs, including the 3D printed pieces, will be highlighted during showtime.
