Explorations combining glass and emerging digital technologies - an Internet of Glass Things

The desire to investigate interactivity with glass grew out of my search for new ways to engage and affect viewers. Creating a sense of a living presence and animacy is one way of doing this, Concerns for 'play' and 'playfulness', for a body-centred, rather than solely visual engagement, also run through my practice, informing imagery, performance, and structure.

I coined the term ‘Internet of Glass Things’, or ‘IoGT’, as a term for glass blended with computational materials, equivalent to ‘e-textiles’, ‘smart textiles’, ‘paper circuits’, ‘smart jewelry’. ‘wearables’ etc. During my PhD (Towards an Internet of Glass Things: glass artworks as digitally communicating objects), I investigated the expressive potential of blending glass and other art materials with microcontrollers, sensors and conductive traces to trigger audio, moving image, lighting effects and connect with data. I blend the qualities of glass with the capabilities of electronics for creating interactions and incorporating media in order to create new kinds of artwork that can communicate a wide range of narratives.

You can can see more about my creative journey, work in progress and experiments in glass and new technologies by visiting her Instagram @lizwaughmcmanus