(text)iles

archivesofamericanart: The Armory Show wasn’t the only big...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 20:35:39 -0500

The Armory Show wasn’t the only big event in 1913 - it was also the year that suffragists marched on Washington to demand women’s right to vote. In light of that centennial anniversary, which is being celebrated this weekend, and the kickoff of Women’s History Month, it seemed like a good time to present you with this declaration from Nancy Spero.

Nancy Spero letter to Lucy R. Lippard, 1971 Oct. 29. Lucy R. Lippard papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

"When things start to unravel, they also create momentary connections between meanings. In the chaos..."

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 09:00:59 -0500

“When things start to unravel, they also create momentary connections between meanings. In the chaos of unraveling, a different order of contact is possible.”

- Jena Osman. “Mapping the Root of Response,” a reflection on Cecilia Vicuna’s show at Art in General, New York, NY, May 19, 1999.

"One day I suggested to my desk mate that we change the world. ‘How?’ he asked. By Talking, I told..."

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 09:00:41 -0500

“One day I suggested to my desk mate that we change the world. ‘How?’ he asked. By Talking, I told him. ‘But how can conversation change the world?’ ‘Two and two are four and four and two are six,’ I said. ‘All of humanity came from two people. If one person convinces another that injustice is unnecessary, that person will convince someone else, and so on.’ ‘Oh!’ he said, and we started talking to everyone.”

- Cecilia Vicuna. “The Conversationalists, San Gabriel School, 1960.” From Spit Temple

"United by a thread, we form a living quipu: each person is a knot, and the performance is what..."

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:00:35 -0500

“United by a thread, we form a living quipu: each person is a knot, and the performance is what happens between the knots.”

- Cecilia Vicuna. “El quipu vivo/ The Living Quipu, Cerlag, Carcas, 2001.”

Creative Time announces 2012/2013 Global Residency Projects

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:48:42 -0500

Creative Time announces 2012/2013 Global Residency Projects:

Very curious to hear reports from Mika Tajima’s upcoming research in India:

From the Creative Time Website:

Burning Question

What happens to textile looms as they are sold from factories in Philadelphia and shipped off to textile-centric cities in India? How can the story of their relocation shed light on the state of the industry in India, where both materials and information are being woven, as well as the current political and economic state?

About the Project

Tajima plans to trace the flow of global industrial production by following the travels of looms sold from factories in Philadelphia to textile-centric cities in India. She will use this as a lens through which to look at the links between the textile industry that was once predominant in the United States and today’s industry in India, a country with a long history of artisanal weaving now experiencing convulsive industrial and technological development. In Ahmedabad and Bangalore, Tajima plans to connect with both artisanal and high-tech factories.

"Nets are connectors, but webs are traps. Webs are connectors, but nets are traps. Weaving is a good..."

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:00:40 -0500

“Nets are connectors, but webs are traps. Webs are connectors, but nets are traps. Weaving is a good metaphor for etymological empowerment (ancient cultures connect at the root of a word and then spin outward), but the art form is also implicated in modern day commercial oppression (sweatshops).”

- Jena Osman. “Mapping the Root of Response,” a reflection on Cecilia Vicuna’s show at Art in General, New York, NY, May 19, 1999.

"…now the whole poem is constructed constructed like two threads the concept is that the two threads..."

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:00:38 -0500

“…now the whole poem is constructed constructed like two threads
the concept is that the two threads have to be
one spun to the right
the other spun to the left
so that they are in tension like lovemaking
to one another
this is what makes
the weaving
sacred”

- Cecilia Vincuna performing from her book Unravelling Words and the Weaving of Water as represented in Spit Temple, edited and translated by Rosa Alcala

"Writing is a sensorial disorder, she says, arranging her threads. Writing wants to be..."

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:00:49 -0500

“Writing is a sensorial disorder, she says, arranging her threads. Writing wants to be three-dimensional. Like the khipu… She leafs through a book with thick pages, looking for a poem. The signatures come apart, exposing the threads that bind them together.”

- Tedlock, Dennis. “Handspun Syllables/Handwoven Words.” Writing about Cicilia Vicuna’s performance at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY, September 27, 1998. From Spit Temple, edited and translated by Rosa Alcala.

"…a thread is not a thread but a thousand tiny fibers entwined dissolving in air a world begins..."

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:01:00 -0500

“…a thread is not a thread
but a thousand
tiny
fibers
entwined
dissolving in air
a world begins again…”

- Cecilia Vicuna performing at Hallways Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, NY, September 27, 1998

Unfortunately, “Material Matters: The Politics of Making...

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:00:37 -0500

Unfortunately, “Material Matters: The Politics of Making and Materials” conflicted with my own paper presentation.

I was very sad to miss this talk organized by Lisa Vinebaum and Ruth Scheuing. I’ll look forward to reading the proceedings when they are published this Spring. Papers included:

1. Cloth as Economic Product & Cloth as Communication: N. S. Harasha’s “Nations” in
Context, Janis Jefferies, Goldsmiths, University of London
2. Comforter Art Action: A Materialist Review of a Material Aid Art Project, Lois Klassen, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
3. Stealth, Ellen Rothenberg, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
4. Making Relations Material; The Smallest of Politics, Judith Leemann, Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Shannon Stratton, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
5. Reskilling, Luanne Martineau, Concordia University
6. Sustainable Collaborations: Colour Collective, Sarah Gotowka, Carissa Carman, and Johanna Autin, Concordia University
7. The Year that Craft Broke: Performing Political Identities and the Co-option of the
Crafted Aesthetic, Nicole Burisch and Anthea Black, Concordia University
8. Made in Haiti, Carole Lung aka Frau Fiber, University of California State - Los Angeles

Image of Carole Lung’s project, “Made in Haiti” via The Journal of Modern Craft

Barb Hunt, who I’ve mentioned here before, organized a...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:00:41 -0500

Barb Hunt, who I’ve mentioned here before, organized a panel called “A Pattern of Holes: Knitting, War, and the Body” with herself, Frances Dorsey, Vita Plume. Barb’s talk about her knit landmines was particularly moving. The panel sparked a vibrant discussion in the audience about the war, nationalism, and the role of artists.

What I find particularly powerful is the way Barb Hunt speaks about her work as so deeply personal. Through textiles, her most intimate feelings and experiences entangle with larger narratives of war, loss, mourning, and healing.

Kate Kretz gave a great talk on identity politics and the taboo...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 09:00:58 -0500

Kate Kretz gave a great talk on identity politics and the taboo of motherhood for contemporary women artists

Image: “Feral”, 2012, hair embroidery on artist’s hair, 3.5 x 3.5”

While hearing everyone’s research is great, one of the...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:00:54 -0500

While hearing everyone’s research is great, one of the best parts of attending a Symposium like this one is meeting so many fascinating people. People like Tove Hermanson, a Brooklyn-based writer and lecturer who, in her own words, uses fashion as “a filter that to read and interpret politics, social and class struggles, gender and sexual identity themes, race issues, and pop & counter-culture.” Her blog is Thread for Thought

Azra Aksamija’s moving project “Monument in...

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:26:37 -0500

Azra Aksamija’s moving project “Monument in Waiting”

The Textile Society of America hosted a Symposium on Textiles and Politics this fall. The following...

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:26:13 -0500

The Textile Society of America hosted a Symposium on Textiles and Politics this fall. The following posts are some long overdue highlights.

"I really care about embodiment. I engage in a lot of academic contexts where embodiment is so..."

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 09:00:54 -0500

“I really care about embodiment. I engage in a lot of academic contexts where embodiment is so removed. We’re all embodied if we’re here, alive; embodiment is being alive to me, in these vessels that we’re in, these bodies. And they communicate, they communicate lots of things. And in a lot of academic contexts, and activist contexts too, you speak—speaking is using your body, obviously—but there is more of an emphasis on what’s coming from this part of your body (points to head), instead of any other part of your body.”

- Dara Greenwald, interviewed for never-the-same.org

"Weaving is for oppositional cyborgs"

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:15:41 -0500

“Weaving is for oppositional cyborgs”

- Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto”

Video

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:46:38 -0400

Heard a powerful presentation by Barb Hunt this week. In...

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:51:29 -0400

Heard a powerful presentation by Barb Hunt this week.

In Barb’s own words:

“…Thus knitting functions as a metaphor for recuperation, protection, and healing. In antipersonnel, I use these associations to contradict the abuse of power and the use of violence, by transforming a destructive object into one that can do no harm… I hope to re-focus attention on the value of small personal gestures that can accumulate into a declaration of caring and hope.”

"The whole system is flawed,” said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a..."

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:55:26 -0400

““The whole system is flawed,” said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a monitoring group based in Washington that is financed by American universities. “This demonstrates, more clearly than ever, that corporate-funded monitoring systems like S.A.I. cannot and will not protect workers.””

- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/world/asia/pakistan-factory-passed-inspection-before-fire.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y&pagewanted=all