In summer 2012 Ramyah and me (a.k.a. eCrafts Collective) stayed at a residency at the Interdisciplinary art group SERDE in Aizpute. We explored Latvian crowns (vainags), which are worn by unmarried women as a part of their national costumes. In order to boost the chances of finding a marital partner, we made two eCrowns in which electronic components are embedded in the traditional patterns.
One of the eCrowns, the Sirius Crown, senses potential partner candidates with an ultrasonic distance sensor. This triggers friendly or hostile sound and light effects according to the mood selected by the crown’s wearer. The other eCrown is called Dancing Crown and it blinks lights with its wearer’s movements, inspired by Latvian folk dances. This is handy for standing better out on a dark dance floor. You can read more about the making of the eCrowns in our original project blog.
In addition to continuing their life in Latvia, hopefully helping the local singles, the eCrowns have been also exhibited at the Ars Lieke 2014 electronic arts exhibition at the Kouvola Art Museum Poikilo in Finland.
The residency was funded by Kulturkontakt Nord. Special thanks to Signe Pucena and Linda Rubena who supported us in many ways throughout the project.
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