RTA New Media alum’s wearable tech collection brings awareness to police brutality

Tristian Sauer, a new media artist and curator and a recent grad of the RTA New Media program, recently launched Your Life Matters, a collection of wearable tech pieces by blcknbrwn (external link, opens in new window) . blcknbrwn is an art collective founded by Sauer and media artist Maziar Ghaderi; Your Life Matters was showcased as part of a fictitious performance piece to shed light on police brutality and the disingenuous intersections of capitalism and social justice at The Creative School’s Innovation Studio (opens in new window) . 

After graduating from RTA New Media in 2020, Sauer began his journey as a new media artist and curator, working locally and digitally as a multidisciplinary artist focusing his practice on wearable tech, 3D fabrication and interactive installations. He is also a new media-focused curator for online and in-person gallery and event spaces. Sauer has presented work locally at The Plumb, WhipperSnapper Gallery, and the Meridian Arts Centre and has curated for the REEL Asian Film Festival as a member of Long Winter and, most recently, in-person at Xpace Cultural center. 

blcknbrwn New Media Arts collective

Sauer founded blcknbrwn in collaboration with Maziar Ghaderi in 2020 during his time as a recipient of the Artscape Daniels bursary program. The collective examines how Black and Brown identities intersect in a North American English-speaking context using various mediums such as film, video art, sensor-based art, exhibitions, and installations.

“I'm interested in the perspectives Black and Brown voices don't (read: won't) say out loud,” co-founder Maziar Ghaderi said. “blcknbrwn was formed to counter such mainstreamed and rather trite narratives by offering a voice to the truly unheard against a backdrop of vapid, capitalistic tokenism and superficial political correctness.”

Sauer and Ghaderi's complementary backgrounds enabled a project like Your Life Matters to be possible. 

“blcknbrwn was a combination of my experience as a physical computing artist and Maziar’s experience as a filmmaker.” Sauer adds, “ Our individual skill sets still define the work we do together and plan to do together in the future.”

Your Life Matters   

Your Life Matters is an interactive theatrical piece featuring work presented by Sentinel Technology, a fictitious organization that will be the true host of the event. The wearable tech collection has been in the works for a couple of years, making its debut at this event. 

“This work was originally conceived during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd,” says Sauer. “The first wearable in the collection was a gas mask that monitors CO2 levels and audibly announces “I can’t breathe” when it detects the user's CO2 has fallen below critical levels (implying they are not breathing). All the wearables in this series address specific concerns of protestors, from avoiding surveillance to surviving tear gas attacks.”

Through these artworks, Ghaderi and Sauer critique corporations appropriating activist culture as shelf-ready commodities for profit. 

“In this speculative story world, the hosts, Chuck Hogan and Egon Beckett, the infamous duo of Sentinel Technology, will present their chic new wearable tech collection, The People’s Armour, prime for a revolution. What could go wrong?” Sauer explains. 

This event also operated as a live film set for a mockumentary project started by the collective. Actors posed as Sentinel tech staff, as some scenes are filmed at the live event -- such as speeches or staff bickering. blckbrwn aims to have the final mockumentary screened at film festivals, community theatres, and digital platforms. 

Art and social change

blcknbrwn utilizes multidisciplinary digital media arts as a tool for social change, as Sauer believes art creates digestible and understandable means for people to connect with important issues. 

“Often, it’s also the best way to connect with people emotionally, moving past the cold rigidity of data, statistics, and news headlines and making the viewer feel what you are trying to say,” he said.

Through their work, blcknbrwn are not only expressing their viewpoints, but they are also inspiring others to take action. By pushing boundaries, the collective is driving progress and promoting positive change in their communities and beyond. 

“It is often art that finally moves the individual and even larger government bodies to take action where action is needed,” Sauer said.

Learn more about blcknbrwn through this link (external link, opens in new window) . 

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