ARCHIVE: LOCATION DATA NARRATIVE

Submitted image (click to enlarge): Location Data Narrative.
Submission title: Location Data Narrative
Submitted by: WhiteFeather Hunter
Participant’s field of work/interest: Transdisciplinary Artist

Participant’s Image Description: "This image represents the wildly inaccurate location data narrative of an object's tracked movement through an urban landscape. I created the object with a GPS tracking device attached to it, abandoned it in a public space and then attempted to track it online through a Google maps-integrated tracking system. The narrative of the object's movement is largely false with some hidden truth embedded in the track data. As the GPS satellites attempted to triangulate the position of the object, fictitious paths were created on the map that do not accurately display the object's trajectory through space. I found it interesting that the data that I received on the location of this object was mostly useless, ultimately rendering the object lost and irretrievable." 

Translation and weaving by Sophia Borowska.
Pointcarré weaving simulation (click to enlarge).

Translation to Weaving

I wanted to capture the transparent red overlay effect that Google Maps uses to represent the data tracking. To do so, I experimented with creating a second, loosely woven and thus transparent, layer over the image. This would be woven with a red weft, and the warp threads involved would be hand-tinted after weaving. Because the data recorded by this red line is false or nonsensical, I thought it would be interesting to make it quite faint, and physically separate from the lower layer. The fictitious path described by WhiteFeather floats over the grainy background image of the city. The loose weave-structure gives a more grid-like effect than the original image, referencing the process of triangulation. I also created my own shades of grey rather than using satins or twills, to imitate the random grain of the screenshot image.
- Sophia
Structures (click to access structures - available to WDRG members only).

Technique and Process Notes

This was an interesting discovery of how to create a regular cloth with only some sections of double-weave pockets. Rather than tell the loom to start with two warps, which means you can only work with half the number of pixels, with this method you can start with a full image and then have only sections in lower resolution. For example, we normally start with an image 1720 pixels wide, the number of threads on the loom. But for a doubleweave cloth, the image we start with is only 860 pixels wide, resulting in a loss of density and resolution. This is also the way to make a double-weave cloth where both layers have different densities, ie. One layer weaves with 2/3 of the warp threads and the other layer weaves with the remaining 1/3, rather than a balanced 50-50 distribution, which the program will automate.
- Sophia
Colour reduction for weaving design (click to enlarge).

Outcome Notes


The greys are a bit muddy and ill-defined, to get more contrast and sharper edges, more work should be done in the definition of the shades of grey, or the image could be further reduced. The overlay layer looks quite flimsy, maybe should have used a thicker weft or a tighter weave structure. More tests should be done to find a balance where the lines are defined and robust, but the layer still appears transparent.
- Sophia

Original Dimensions: 1109 x 666 px

Number of Picks: 1720
Woven Dimensions: 19” x 12”
Weaving Density:  143 ppi

Threads Used: Warp is white 2/16 mercerized cotton. Wefts are 2/8 black and 2/16 forest green wool wound together on the same bobbin, and red nylon embroidery thread.

Images of Final Woven Samples

FRONT (SECTION), ABOVE.

BACK (SECTION), BELOW.
FRONT (DETAIL) - click to enlarge.
FRONT (DETAIL) - click to enlarge.