Craft Futures
From Craftivism
to Craftwashing
Anthea Black and Nicole Burisch
The authors examine craft within the conditions of extreme material and economic disparity; a renewed focus on labour and materiality in contemporary art and museums; the political dimensions of craftivism, neoliberalism, and state power; efforts toward urban renewal and sustainability; the use of digital technologies; and craft’s connections to race, cultural identity and sovereignty in texts that criss-cross five continents. They claim contemporary craft as a dynamic critical position for understanding the most immediate political and aesthetic issues of our time.
Anthea Black
Artist, writer, and art publisher. Their studio work takes the form of prints, limited edition publications, artist-books, drawing, textiles, video and performance to address feminist, queer and trans archives and embodiment.
Nicole Burisch
Curator, critic, and cultural worker. Her projects focus on discourses of craft, feminism, performance, publishing, labour, and materiality within contemporary art.
"We take the position that craft is not a progressive political movement; like other forms of cultural production, it is embedded within broader histories and systems."
Sabrina Gschwandtner - Wartime Knitting Circle (2007)
Revolutionary Knitting Circle Knit-Out in the Park. Peace Knits banner on display. Part of the Revolutionary Knitting Tour. August 21, 2004.
Pink M.24 Chaffee Tank by Marianne Jørgensen
You said you set up Craftivist Collective because you felt you didn’t fit in with other activist groups. What kinds of people are Craftivists?
A mixed bunch. Many are really shy crafty people who care about issues like global poverty but may be scared to go on a march. This is where we focus our energy – we don’t try to preach to the converted. Others are burnt out activists who want to chill out and get their message across in a different way. And some Craftivists are people who just want to meet new people.
(Sarah Corbett, founder of Craftivist Collective)
Craftivism
+
Individualism
Craft as an ideology,
a signifier of our political
and personal values.
Fashion Industry
Craftwashing
Levi’s® Made & Crafted®
H&M’s wildflower collection
Free People
Anthropologie Store Display Designs
Toms Shoes Photo Marketing
Modern Craft
‘more personal, spiritual form…directed towards the improvement of the self,’
‘countercultural craft,
explicitly antagonistic to the mainstream.'
Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting
Gestures of Resistance
“The essential role artists play in our world: to bear witness and dare us to dream of an unimaginable future.”
Architecture of Return, Escape (Metropolitan Museum of Art), 2020 Deer hide, pigment, and acrylic
30 x 63 inches (76.2 x 160 cm)
Installed at Peter Blum Gallery, NYC, NY
The first in a series of hide paintings for guiding the escape of Indigenous remains and objects in non-Indigenous Institutions to return to their home communities. Architecture of return, escape (Metropolitan Museum of Art) is a mapped escape plan for objects held in the Met in New York City.
Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
Run, Jane, Run!, 2004
woven cotton, linen, barbed wire, caution tape,
120 in. × 67 5⁄8 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Fiber artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood has made weavings about immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border for much of her career. Her father, of Huichol Indigenous descent, was an undocumented field worker in California. As a child she traveled throughout the state picking crops with her family and regularly crossing the border.
Terese Agnew
Portrait of a Textile Worker, 2005
Clothing labels, thread, fabric backing
98" X 110"
Portrait of a Textile Worker is constructed of thousands of clothing labels stitched together, contributed by hundreds of sympathetic individuals, labor organizations, Junior League members, students, retired and unemployed workers, friends, family and acquaintances worldwide. The resulting image is about the exploitation and abuse of laborers, the by-products of globalization and the insatiable American appetite for goods.
Tanaka Ryosuke and Miyachi Yoh
Lumber that's too short or too narrow can be hard to sell. Offcuts are usually discarded or end up as woodchips. But Tanaka Ryosuke and Miyachi Yoh use them for furniture. Not big enough for large panels, multiple boards must be glued together, leading to uneven coloring. The answer, to dye the furniture with indigo, transforming each piece into a unified whole. This clever idea and their love of wood itself gives their work an inner beauty that's attracting real interest.
Mori Yumi
Mori Yumi remakes old clothes with a sense of humor. And she's using her special flair to upcycle tents. Display models or those damaged in shipping must be disposed of, and Mori uses material from such tents to make bags and even jackets. Her designs take advantage of tents' durability and water resistance, but also their unique design elements to create something truly fashionable. To tell the truth, waste reduction isn't really Mori's goal, she simply loves making things.
"We can look toward a daily practice that engages body, spirit, and mind to acknowledge the interconnectedness of all beings (respect), create mutually beneficial offerings (reciprocity), and be accountable to these intertwining relationships (responsibility)."
Questions:
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From readings: What processes and ways of thinking about craft can craft offer viable alternatives to the continued and destructive expansion of capitalism?
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In thinking about craft as political, in what ways do the craft scene and the art scene differ? Are their impacts different? Or are they both performative?
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What other ways can we think about the future of craft? (non-human? computational?)