Mapping New Textile Territory: Memory, Materiality and Process (organized session)

Ruth Scheuing

Five artists present research that informs the creation of new art works. Research topics focus on maps, samplers, family history, bio-engineering, and satellite and GPS technologies. The presentations explore historical knowledge, personal stories, recent industrial experimentations in bio-materials and global issues; they explore and question assumptions of textiles as a comforting domestic setting and open up new territories for textiles.

Textiles matter as objects, through their process and their material. Context is shaped by history, society, culture, gender or technology. Stitching and weaving have unique voices as narratives, samplers or maps. The narrative potential is also evident in myths and fairy tales, as well as in history and personal memories. Penelope, after all, was a weaver, and a sweater can keep you warm and also hold conflicting memories.

References to the body and the self inform most of the works, directly or indirectly. Involvement with processes includes the use of tools; from pens and needles to computers. This raises issues about the ways we use and experience different technologies. Every tool has complex associations with gender, history, science, economics and military technology. How do drawings made by satellite tracking devices inform the work and how are traditional maps and samplers transformed in contemporary practices?

 

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