As a fashion designer and university professor, Ying Gao has achieved personal distinction through her numerous creative projects: six solo exhibitions in France, in Switzerland, in Canada, and participation in around sixty group exhibitions around the world (MAK Vienna, MFA Boston, Ars Electronica, and others). Her varied creative work has enjoyed international media coverage: over 350 press articles and media appearances (Time, METAL, Vogue, Dazed and Confused, Interni, Radio Canada, TV5… ). She is one of the “Fab 40: Canada” selected by Wallpaper magazine.
Ying Gao questions our assumptions about clothing by combining urban design, architecture and media design. She explores the construction of the garment, taking her inspiration from the transformations of the social and urban environment. Recognized worldwide, her designs are frequently shown in museums and galleries. Design is the medium, situated in the technological rather than in the textile realm : sensory technologies allow garments to become more playful and interactive. Ying Gao explores both the status of the individual, whose physical contours are transformed by external interferences, and the garment’s function as a fragile protective space. Her work testifies to the profound mutation of the world in which we live and carries with it a radical critical dimension that transcends technological experimentation.
– Ying Gao
(no)where(now)here : 2 gaze-activated dresses by ying gao
‘The series comprising two dresses, made of photoluminescent thread and eye tracking technology, is activated by spectators’ gaze. A photograph is said to be “spoiled” by blinking eyes – here however, the concept of presence and of disappearance are questioned, as the experience of chiaroscuro (clarity/obscurity) is achieved through an unfixed gaze.’
