Ricardo O’Nascimento
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Interactive wearable artwork · 2010

e-Ansã

A dress that makes the invisible electromagnetic activity of mobile phones perceptible as wind.

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A performer wearing e-Ansã, seen from above inside a circular black stage
CYNETART, Dresden, 2012
Project typeArtwork · Performance · Fashiontech
ThemesEmbodied & haptic interaction · Wearables & e-textiles · Speculative & critical design
FormInteractive dress / performance
First developed2010
RecognitionCYNETART Award, 2012
ContextArt, body and technology

01 · Proposition

Giving an invisible field a body

e-Ansã transforms electromagnetic radiation from mobile-phone signals into a sensory encounter with moving air.

We live among signals that pass through bodies and spaces without entering ordinary perception. The work converts that hidden electronic activity into wind: something that can be felt on the skin, seen in the movement of the garment and shared with others in the room.

Rather than visualising data on a screen, e-Ansã makes the body the site where technological infrastructure becomes tangible.

Side view of the e-Ansã dress and its layers of red, yellow and orange ribbons
Hundreds of fitinhas form the surface of the dress.
A performer wearing e-Ansã among the audience at CYNETART
The wearable enters into a live relation with nearby devices.

02 · Interaction

Signal becomes air; air becomes movement

  1. 01

    Sense

    Electronics embedded in the dress respond to frequency signals from mobile phones.

  2. 02

    Activate

    Fans held by the aluminium structure set air in motion around the wearer.

  3. 03

    Materialise

    The air animates the ribbons, turning an imperceptible field into a visible and bodily event.

An audience member reaching towards the performer wearing e-Ansã
Interaction unfolds through proximity, devices, air and movement.

03 · Material language

Technology, tradition and the force of wind

The name invokes Iansã, the orisha associated with winds, storms and transformation in Candomblé.

Red, orange and yellow fitinhas do Senhor do Bonfim cover the structure. These ribbons carry histories of faith, promises and wishes in Brazilian culture. Here, they also operate as a responsive material: air makes the electronic signal legible through colour and motion.

By bringing these references together, the work does not present technology as culturally neutral. It stages a deliberate encounter between Afro-Brazilian cosmology, popular material culture and contemporary electronic systems.

Front view of a performer wearing the ribbon-covered e-Ansã dress
Red, orange and yellow reference colours associated with Iansã.

04 · Public life

Exhibitions and recognition

Mostra LABMIS

Museu da Imagem e do Som, São Paulo, Brazil

CYNETART

Performance in Dresden, Germany

Award

CYNETART Award

Donated by T-Systems Multimedia Solutions

The performer wearing e-Ansã in a gallery setting
e-Ansã in exhibition, with the mobile phone held as part of the encounter.

Credits

Project team

Concept and fashion design
Ricardo O’Nascimento
Electronics
Thiago Santos
Photography
CYNETART documentation

Archive & references

CYNETART award archive ↗Mostra LABMIS 2010 ↗

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