2018 RÖDA STEN KONSTHALL
Installation views and production, There Are No More Exotic Countries in Latin America
Group show, Shout Fire!, Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg
Curated by Mariangela Mendez-Prencke
September 1 – November 18, 2018
Participating artists: Mary Coble, Annika Lundgren, Felipe Mujica, Joar Nango, Carla Zaccagnini, including performaces by—Erdem Gündüz and Tanya Mars from Live Action, Oskar Bråne, and additional contributions by Mikael Löfgren, Kulturverkstan and Skogen.
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Together with curator Mariangela Mendez-Prencke and the RSK team, we decided to produce the curtains for the exhibition in an open workshop. For the duration of 2 weeks, a group of about 15 people, mostly women and of different ages and levels of textile work experience, worked with me, and Johanna Unzueta, in the fabrication of 20 pieces. A community of people gathered around embroidery and shared labor, knowledge, life experiences… revolving around the Swedish tradition of Fika (tea/coffee break normally accompanied by pastries, bread, cheese, etc.)
The idea of collaborating with a local group of people or a local textile studio has to do with the concept of horizontality, which in this case is applied to creating a production methodology that is open, that foments a constant dialogue and learning process between the involved parts. Curtains: the title of the body of work contains this idea (not flags, not banners), which is intended to direct our attention to the domestic aspect of the work, of how and by whom it can be produced, under what circumstances, where (at a home or in a sewing studio?). The skills required to produce this work relate to a domestic world, to some close or faraway relative we have that sews or embroiders at home.
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