Mexico

The Enkidu Summer Conference 2009: Storytelling, Memories and Identity Constructions, Mexico City, 1 - 5 July 2009

Solveigh Goett, The textile self re/collected: stories from the fabric of life

http://www.enkidumagazine.com/chics/esc/abstracts/09_00104.htm

Yarn Bombing

Email from Sean Myatt:

"I came across the phenomenon of yarn bombing the other day, I do not know if you already knew about it, but thought I would forward it to you anyway."


Go to:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oberholtzer-creative.com/visualculture/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/yarn_bombing1.jpg


Thanks, Sean!

Things to do in the summer: a knot can save your life

'Few people realise the great variety of knots in use by sailors, builders and others. There are simple knots for rope ends, knots for joining ropes, ties and lashings, anchor and mooring fastenings, shortenings, and for various other purposes. Everybody should learn to tie some at least of them. There are many occasions when life itself depends on a knot having been properly tied. The great things to remember are that knots should be capable of bearing any kind of strain and that they should be so tied that it is easy to undo them when required. By means of the illustrations any intelligent lad can soon acquire the necessary knowledge, and elaborate directions are not needed. The knots should be practiced constantly, and you will be surprised at the amount of interest they yield."

The Wonder Book of Things to do, Fifth edition, Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, London and Melbourne, n.d., p.157

myth, memory and family lore

"Knitted in a homely fashion in stripes of multicoloured wool, a bodysuit - one that covers the entire head - hangs forlornly against the gallery wall. It's the handiwork of the mother of Leonid Tishkov, one of five contemporary Russian artists featured in an exhibition that delves into myth, memory and family lore. Next to it there's footage of the besuited artist blindly prancing around on a rooftop, looking down upon a grey urban Soviet-era sprawl.

Tishkov's work, which also includes his childhood bed - a lightbox has replaced the mattress and a miniature figure of the artist perches on the rusted iron bedpost - captures something of the mood of much of the rest of the exhibition, in which we see a craft-based folksy aesthetic knitted to a conceptual sensibility. A certain playfulness vies with a prevailing melancholy.[...]

But if the mood occasionally slips into easy nostalgia, the brutal imagery in the work of Stanislav Volyazlovsky pulls us up sharply: drawings on stained prison pillowcases of masked children sucking on tubes connected to fellow inmates - an allegory, we read, of Russia's relationship to the Ukraine. [...]"

Fisun Guener, Art Review: Past Future Perfect, in Metro, 19 May 2009, p.25

Camping

"in regards to sleeping-kit, remember that overcoats will supplement blankets, as will other day clothing as well; make use of these things when necessary, and thus save the carrying of blankets beyond what are really essential. Among the necessities will be a good ground sheet for each camper; this is a cotton fabric sheet, about seven feet by four, rubbered on one side to make it waterproof; any good firm of sports outfitters will supply such an article, and it serves a variety of uses beside that of keeping the damp from rising when one is sleeping. It makes a good waterproof in wet weather, draped around the shoulders; a good holdall for sleeping kit when things are tidied up for the day, and may even be utilised as a washing bowl."

The Wonder Book of Things To Do, Fifth Edition, Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, London and Melbourne, n.d., p.17

Confusion

“Wenn wir von den Enzyklopädisten reden hörten oder einen Band ihres ungeheuren Werks aufschlugen, so war es uns zumute, als wenn man zwischen den unzähligen bewegten Webstühlen einer großen Fabrik hingeht und vor lauter Schnarren und Rasseln, vor allem Aug’ und Sinne verwirrenden Mechanismus, vor lauter Unbegreiflichkeit einer auf das mannigfaltigste ineinandergreifenden Anstalt, in Betrachtung dessen, was alles dazu gehört, un ein Stück Tuch zu fertigen, sich den eigenen Rock selbst verleidet fühlt, den man auf dem Leibe trägt."

[“When we heard talk of the encyclopaedists talk or when we opened a tome of their awesome work, we felt as if walking between the countless moving spools and looms of a large factory, and with so much rattling and cranking, of mechanisms confusing the eye and the senses, with the sheer incomprehensibility of such a complex enterprise of manifold interactions, in consideration of everything that is involved in making a piece of cloth, one feels almost put off by the coat on one’s own body.”]

Goethes Werke, in Auswahl herausgegeben von Professor Dr. Max Hecker, Verlagsbuchhandlung J.J.Weber, Leipzig, n.d. p. 24

"Suspected thief in a stripy tie"

"This man is wanted in connection with a number of bicycle thefts from railway stations across Sussex and the South East.
[...]
Detective Sergeant Paddy Kerr, of the British Transport Police, said the man struck as recently as last week in Worthing. He said: 'He has been captured on CCTV on numerous occasions wearing a dark shirt, distinctive striped tie and sunglasses.

He walks around cycle racks and talks on a mobile phone as if he is finishing off an important call before catching a train. As soon as the cycle area is clear, he gets to work to remove property."

The Argus, 4 June 2009, p.19

"WPCs in bra peril"

"Women cops have been told not to wear wired bras on duty - in case they are shot.
A Home Office memo warns that metal objects worn under protective armour can be driven into the body when hit.
The Police Federation's Julia Roper-Smith said: 'Body armour has to be close fitting. Do not wear underwired bras. There are no bullet-proof bras.'"

The Sun, 8 May 2009, p.29

For Germany's approach to the bra problem in the police force, see Archives, 15 August 2008

Button tales

"Louis XIV spent the equivalent of £3 million on buttons during his life time."

from:
Museum display text 'Button World'
Manchester City Art Gallery

Also at Button World:

"Buttons that tell a story"

"Buttons are often storytellers and over the years buttons have been made to reflect some of the world’s most famous tales from cast metal Aesop’s Fables buttons (1880 – 1900) to wooden Snow White and the Seven Dwarves buttons (1937 – 1940). "

http://www.manchestergalleries.org/whats-on/exhibitions/index.php?itemID=16&tab=resource

Guerra de la Paz

"Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz [...] plunged headfirst into the unknown, seeking to fathom the common lore that binds humanity in an Ariadne's thread across the globe. [...]

The Cuban artists, who have collaborated under the name Guerra de la Paz since 1996, share a studio in Little Haiti, where they have plumbed the neighborhood's streets and shops for the discarded materials that make up their art.

To create the eye-popping mermaids, unicorns, witches, warlocks, and angels in their show, they play the role of backyard archaeologists, dumpster-diving and rifling through piles of clothing at local shops that work in the rag trade shipping used garments in bulk to Haiti.

'These businesses toss out furs, sequined items, and stuff like prom gowns in the dumpster,' de la Paz explains.

Adds Guerra: 'What we collect from these places, thrift shops, and friends and family is the driving force behind our work.'"


By Carlos Suarez De Jesus
Miami New Times
January 22, 2009
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/guerra_paz_articles.htm

see their work at http://www.guerradelapaz.com/