Examination of a case
Pop and Politics in Contemporary Textile Arts
The exploration of the material, fabrics and new textiles is currently inspiring artists of different generations and origins from all continents. Curtains, wallpaper and carpets are being rediscovered as image carriers for contemporary representations. Fabrics, textile décor and clothing can be used to retell stories and backgrounds of historical, pictorial and global contexts.
In the process, the rediscovery of traditional techniques is contrasted with the enthusiasm for new digital technologies: Digital technology controls the looms in today’s world or spins the threads into an augmented reality. Fabrics and their patterns are often also cultural symbols of identity. In the context of mass production of textiles and ecological sustainability, artistic material research opens up new perspectives and possibilities.
The exhibition presents a dialogue between different positions of internationally renowned artists who explicitly deal with textile materials and at the same time explore their socio-political significance. The question of how we deal with our resources and abilities always remains. Many works and images encode social and aesthetic concepts of order that they question. The exhibition aims to show how explicitly and multi-facetedly pop-cultural, (post-)feminist and daily politics are currently finding expression with textile materials.
The occasion for the exhibition is, among other things, the Saxon Year of Industrial Culture 2020; a year whose exhibition realisations got rather out of kilter due to the pandemic. The openness with which numerous artists and lenders have responded to the exhibition concept – even at short notice – and developed new works is therefore particularly gratifying and worthy of thanks. A total of over 65 works have been brought together.
Textiles in particular demand a haptic perceptual experience, which in part is already indicated on the retina, but at the same time can also be an optical illusion. Digital representation can therefore not complement the real exhibition visit. The exhibition should therefore also enable this sensual experience, especially after the first lockdown. Unfortunately, this is now also not possible with the second lockdown in 2020/2021. We would therefore like to offer you an entertaining visit with our own exhibition blog and bring you closer to the exhibition in various facets.
An exhibition with works by
Nevin Aladağ | Alexandra Bircken | Tim Berresheim | Shannon Bool | Edith Dekyndt | Die Tödliche Doris | Kyungah Ham | Tobias Hantmann | Erika Hock | Magdalena Kita | Helen Mirra | Laure Prouvost | Yelena Popova | Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivio) | Regine Schumann | Sara Sizer | Oliver Sieber | Heidi Specker | Roland Stratmann | Rosemarie Trockel
