MTF Labs Aveiro

Chicks on Speed: Epic Shoes

During the opening inspirational talks on the first day of MTF Labs, MTF Labs Aveiro participants were privileged to see an exclusive presentation and experimental performance by the legendary feminist art collective Chicks on Speed.

The collective’s globally known founders Alexandra Murray-Leslie (Professor at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts at NTNU in Norway) and Melissa E Logan (acclaimed artist in Hamburg) discussed and performed their work live for the labs participants. One of their well-known initiatives includes shoes that have been modified to create musical effects when walking or dancing.

Founder of award-winning artist collective Humans Since 1982, artist and technologist David Cox (Australian), fashion technologist and winner of the EU S+T+ARTS Residency for her work with “Knitted DNA” Carolin Vogler (German), and multimedia engineer, roboticist and audio systems programmer Daniel Rosero (Colombian) were inspired by the presentation and decided to develop the concept further. The team had never worked together before.

The resulting prototype is a playable musical instrument that responds to a variety of movements, impacts and step styles, as well as detects the position and behaviour of the other shoe in the pair and respond accordingly.

Epic Shoes prototype performed on stage at MTF Labs with live ukulele bass performed by Daniel Rosero. Below the inspirational talk and performance by Chicks on Speed Alexandra Murray Leslie and Melissa E Logan, delivered live from Barcelona and Hamburg to the MTF Labs participants, which launched this project.