KnitKnit: Shaped By Touch
Sabrina Gschwandtner
Coming into its
third issue, KnitKnit currently exists as a numbered, limited edition artist’s
book that provides a forum for the growing movement in contemporary art that
loves to craft. Not concerned so much with defining boundaries between fine
art and craft – or fashion, architecture, and other seemingly disparate
fields – this movement engages all realms, and the cracks in between. Craft
is both the purpose and the by-product of this art, but it’s not the result.
The result is an all-inclusive concept about making that encourages a new way
of seeing. Craft-based art forces its audience into a physically reciprocal
way of looking, rooted in a visceral, haptic and sensual – rather than
exclusively visual – response.
KnitKnit acts not only as a space for examining ideas about the craft movement,
it also seeks to showcase the diverse set of artists, artisans and art spaces
involved. Articles have ranged from the writings of 19th century architect Gottfried
Semper to an interview with a founding member of the techno record label Beige
Records who sews beaded patterns modeled after early microprocessors onto glass
bottles. KnitKnit is also an instructive tool (issue #2 consisted entirely of
arts and crafts-making directions and recipes). In addition to the publication,
KnitKnit now also produces, often in collaboration with other organizations,
a wide range of activities such as exhibitions, film and video screenings, and
musical performances. The “Knitted Light” screening at Brooklyn film
venue Ocularis explored traditional handcraft and surface design through film
and video work made by artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Annabel Nicolson, Joan
Jonas, and Stephen Beck. The upcoming KnitKnit Sundown Salon at the Fritz Haeg
Gallery in Los Angeles will showcase a performance by the fashion art collective
Feral Childe, a meeting of the Church of Craft, and installations by artists
Andrea Zittel, Lisa Auerbach, and Jim Drain, among others.
For more information,
please visit www.knitknit.net
