Description
Future Human-Textile Existence in Digital and Physical Realities
Moderated by: Rochele Gloor and Kristin Carlson
For nearly every human on the planet, we spend our lives wrapped in textiles. Textiles mediate our relationship to the environment and our experiences of embodiment. Their material qualities form a symbiotic relationship with the body that defines identity and cultural representation. As digital and physical realities converge, textiles move into new forms of material and immaterial expression. In virtual worlds, fantastical bodies and dematerialized garments reflect collective desires and imagined futures, while advances in biomaterials, 3D printing, zero-waste weaving, and smart textile research transform what garments can be in physical space.
The convergence of digital and physical textile developments suggests a future in which textiles evolve from clothing into interfaces that bridge knowledge, society, and human experience. In digital environments, speculative design and virtual textiles allow individuals to inhabit forms unconstrained by physical limitations. Algorithms enable digital garments to function as expressive interfaces for embodied experience and cultural narratives. Virtual environments also support the preservation of intangible heritage through textile representation in immersive and interactive storytelling. Meanwhile, innovation in biomaterials, smart fibers and textiles, and zero-waste systems continues to redefine materiality in the physical world.
As emerging technologies blur the boundary between physical and virtual realities, textiles move into new spatial, experiential, and symbolic dimensions. How future garments, whether digitally simulated, physically manufactured, or existing in hybrid states, will influence human identity and cultural continuity is important to this discussion. This talk considers how textiles may shape new forms of human–technological existence, potentially acting as connectors between physical bodies and virtual selves while opening space to reflect on environmental, cultural, and technological contexts.
Presentations and Speakers:
• A Fabric with No Fibers – Caitlin Knowles
• Beyond Physical Costumes: Exploring Digital Garments as Tools for Movement and Choreography – Marina Stergiou
• Garments as Narrative Interfaces: Connecting Physical Bodies to Cultural Imaginaries – Sawyer Feng
• DRESS_CODE – Leela Porges
• Designing the Moving Body: Movement as Material, Body as Interface – Maya Kaplan
• Knittable Electronic Textiles as Material Platforms for Computational Arts and Design – Irmandy Wicaksono
• Carbon Nanotube E-Textiles for Respiratory Sensing in Musical Performance – Ziyue Piao
https://dac.siggraph.org/sparks/2026-10-09_future-human-textile-existence/