Gloria Sogl ~ Tactile Kinship. Between states of becoming and processes of unmaking
Undoing the distinctions between hobbyist and fine art, and the categorizations of “high” and “low,” textile praxis transcends thresholds between hand and machine, between becoming and unmaking. The loom, as a hyper-industrial machine with deep roots in the colonial past of the West, embedded in the cycle of capitalist value production, invites us not to invent new tools but to expand our approaches, question the loom as a timeless machine amidst the decomposition of traditional patterns and forms of learned and known.
By emphasizing touch and materiality, we draw insights from sensory narratives, embodied experiences, and intuition, reflecting the diverse ways we, both individually and collectively, acquire knowledge and understanding. This performance highlights the interplay between states of becoming and processes of unmaking, illustrating the intertwined nature of textiles and text. Fraying threads become braided voices forming collective writing, as weaving becomes an aesthetic process with uncertain outcomes, further unraveling traditional textile forms.
