Thursday, March 31, 2011

Flat pack



A flat-packed chair for the installation 300 Spectators by Goett & Hoad. To follow the chair into the gallery and find out more about the work, go to

http://solveighgoett.blogspot.com/search?q=300+spectators

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

London 26 March 2011 - March for the Alternative



Under a sea of flags and banners half a million people took to the streets of London to protest against the ruthless spending cuts imposed by the UK government.

For images from the march, go to http://solveighgoett.blogspot.com/search?q=26+March+2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

ein wunderschöner Textilkreislauf - a wonderful textile cycle



" ... heute war Stoffparty mit den Gütersloher Nähweibern. Stoffe, die man irgendwann gekauft oder geschenkt bekommen hat, aber nie verarbeiten konnte oder dann doch nicht mehr wollte, wurden wie bei einer Tupperparty präsentiert und verkauft. Die Tageseinnahmen gehen an den Kinderschutzbund. So weit die ganz einfache Beschreibung ...
Ich habe das Paradekissen gekauft.
Nicht etwa, weil ich es dringend benötige. Es ist genau das alte kaputte Paradekissen meiner Oma, dass ich vor Lichtjahren (lange bevor ich zum Nähweib geworden bin) mal auf einem Flohmarkt an eine nette Frau verkauft habe. Und genau diese nette Frau wollte sich heute auf unserer Stoffparty davon trennen, weil sie nie ein passendes zweites Kissen gefunden hat.
Ist das nicht ein wunderschöner Textilkreislauf?”

[... today we had a fabric party with the Gütersloher Nähweibern (sewing women). Fabrics once bought or given but never used in any project for various reasons were displayed and sold like at a Tupperware party. The takings of the day were donated to the association for the protection of children. So far, so good … I bought a Paradekissen (decorative pillow case).
Not because I needed it. It was the very same old and torn pillow case of my grandmother that light years ago – long before I became a Nähweib - I had sold on a flea market to a very nice woman. Now this very same nice woman wanted to let go of it today at our fabric party because in all those years she didn’t manage to find a second pillowcase to match.
Isn’t that a wonderful textile cycle?]

K.G., 19.3.2011

Friday, March 18, 2011

The knitted detective




“For fans of The Killing, BBC4's tense Danish thriller currently airing on Saturday night, there's only question bigger than whodunnit: "Why does Sarah Lund always wear that thick patterned jumper? And also, of course, where can I get one from?"
Now, happily, the first mystery can be, erm, unravelled. Sofie Gråbøl, the actor who plays Lund in the show, laughs delightedly at the idea of British fans becoming obsessed with the detective's jumper.
Danish viewers also went crazy for it. " Everybody wanted that sweater," she says. "The company in the Faroe Islands couldn't keep up."
It was Gråbøl who decided upon Lund's attire: "We had a costume meeting and I saw that sweater and thought: 'That's it!'," she says, despite the jumper being decidedly unpolice-like. "The reason it's so perfect is because it tells so many stories. It tells of a person who doesn't use her sexuality – that's a big point. Lund's so sure of herself she doesn't have to wear a suit. She's at peace with herself."
The knitwear also has personal memories for the actor, who was brought up in the 70s in a very hippy-like environment in Copenhagen. "I wore this sweater and so did my parents. That sweater was a sign of believing in togetherness. There's a nice tension between those soft, human values and Lund being a very tough closed person – because to me it says that she's wanting to sit around a fire with a guitar; it gives a great opposite to her line of work and behaviour."

The Killing: Sarah Lund's jumper explained

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/mar/10/the-killing-sophie-grabol-sarah-lund

more knitwear

Thursday, March 10, 2011



While I have gained my title, another Dr. G. has lost his.

Dieter Moor refers in Titel, Thesen, Temperamente (ARD, 20.2.2011) to the Guttenberg affair:

"... ganz Deutschland diskutiert [...] darüber, ob ein Doktortitel einfach abgelegt, gewaschen und wieder eingesackt werden kann so wie ein Taschentuch…”

[‘all of Germany is discussing whether a doctor title can simply be taken off, washed and put back into the pocket like a handkerchief...’]


http://mediathek.daserste.de/sendungen_a-z/431902_ttt---titel-thesen-temperamente/6530884_-schluss-mit-moor---ber-vorhandene-und-nicht-vorhan


more on handkerchiefs

The practical component of my arts-based PhD thesis is documented at http://www.mirabilia-domestica.co.uk/

Hung out to dry?



The words suggest the solidity of a building, but does the washing line image tell a different story?

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Feeding my textile self



Birthday presents from my adorable daughters