5.3.20 Relational knitting
Knitting in public is very different to knitting in private. It has what art critic Nicolas Bourriaud (2002) describes as ‘relational aesthetics’. It’s a people magnet; strangers talk to me. Corkhill (2014, p36) suggests that this is due to the side-by-side nature of knitting and the permissible lack of eye contact.
Knitting in public definitely has performative aspects to it too; I knit therefore I am documents my public knitting
I also sometimes wear my sculptures.
I’ve researched other artists who use knitting as performance, including feminist and political activism as well. Two examples are Jenkins (2013), whose durational performance marks her 28 day menstrual cycle, and Adrienne Sloane’s (2019) unravelling American flag.
Considering the documentation of performance, as Ledger et al (2011, p.163) discuss, although there are
‘tensions between the live nature of practice and a recording of the work, documentation can be seen as a potentially dynamic and interactive process between practice, its audience and more traditional written critiques. So from a research perspective, documentation concerns the articulation of practitioners’ questions and processes of working.’
I am a ‘reluctant performer’ (Baker, 2019) but I feel I should consider performance as part of my knitting research repertoire. I’ll obviously need to consider carefully how I document it.
Reference list:
Bourriaurd, N. (2002) Relational aesthetics. Paris: Les Presses du Reel
Corkhill, B. (2014) Knit for health and wellness. Bath: Flatbear Publishing
Jenkins, C. (2013) ‘I'm the 'vaginal knitting' performance artist – and I want to defend my work’ The Guardian (UK) 17 December Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/17/vaginal-knitting-artist-defence (Accessed: 24 November 2019)
Jenkins, C. (2013) Casting off my womb. Available at: http://casey-jenkins.com/works/casting-off-my-womb/ (Accessed: 24 November 2019)
Ledger, A., Ellis, S. and Wright, F. (2011) ‘The Question of Documentation: Creative Strategies in Performance Research.’ in Kershaw, B. and Nicholson, H. (2011) Research methods in theatre and performance. Available at: https://www.dawsonera.com/readonline/9780748646081 (Accessed: 17 December 2019)
Sloane, A. (2019) Free speech. Available at: https://www.adriennesloane.com/free-speech.html (Accessed 5: December 2019)
Knitting in public is very different to knitting in private. It has what art critic Nicolas Bourriaud (2002) describes as ‘relational aesthetics’. It’s a people magnet; strangers talk to me. Corkhill (2014, p36) suggests that this is due to the side-by-side nature of knitting and the permissible lack of eye contact.
Knitting in public definitely has performative aspects to it too; I knit therefore I am documents my public knitting
I also sometimes wear my sculptures.
I’ve researched other artists who use knitting as performance, including feminist and political activism as well. Two examples are Jenkins (2013), whose durational performance marks her 28 day menstrual cycle, and Adrienne Sloane’s (2019) unravelling American flag.
Considering the documentation of performance, as Ledger et al (2011, p.163) discuss, although there are
‘tensions between the live nature of practice and a recording of the work, documentation can be seen as a potentially dynamic and interactive process between practice, its audience and more traditional written critiques. So from a research perspective, documentation concerns the articulation of practitioners’ questions and processes of working.’
I am a ‘reluctant performer’ (Baker, 2019) but I feel I should consider performance as part of my knitting research repertoire. I’ll obviously need to consider carefully how I document it.
Reference list:
Bourriaurd, N. (2002) Relational aesthetics. Paris: Les Presses du Reel
Corkhill, B. (2014) Knit for health and wellness. Bath: Flatbear Publishing
Jenkins, C. (2013) ‘I'm the 'vaginal knitting' performance artist – and I want to defend my work’ The Guardian (UK) 17 December Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/17/vaginal-knitting-artist-defence (Accessed: 24 November 2019)
Jenkins, C. (2013) Casting off my womb. Available at: http://casey-jenkins.com/works/casting-off-my-womb/ (Accessed: 24 November 2019)
Ledger, A., Ellis, S. and Wright, F. (2011) ‘The Question of Documentation: Creative Strategies in Performance Research.’ in Kershaw, B. and Nicholson, H. (2011) Research methods in theatre and performance. Available at: https://www.dawsonera.com/readonline/9780748646081 (Accessed: 17 December 2019)
Sloane, A. (2019) Free speech. Available at: https://www.adriennesloane.com/free-speech.html (Accessed 5: December 2019)