Cultex – Textile as a Cross-Cultural Language, The Hub: National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, January 30 – April 18 2010
The cultures of Norway and Japan are as far removed geographically as almost any but the UK premiere of a new exhibition shows bridges built across continents using textiles.
Cultex, which opens at the Hub in Lincolnshire, is the work of three pairs of artists representing both countries, and many common threads were evidently found.
Gabriella Göransson and Kiyonori Shimada had never met, but soon discovered a shared interest in primordial memory and archaic, organic forms.
Eva Schølberg and Yuka Kawai, having met once a long time ago, hit it off with a direction new to both. Their work in the show is based on ideas of ‘gravity’ and ‘ground’.
Meanwhile Anniken Amundsen and Machiko Agano had previously worked together, but for Cultex decided to respond to the effects of environmental change.
As all three pairs demonstrate, there are as many connections as differences between the far North and the Far East. Knowledge of technique, materials and the history of textile art transcended all boundaries.
“The works are interventionist in the broadest sense – intervening not only in physical space but also within the cultural and creative space of people living in particular times and particular places,†says curator Lesley Millar.
Aren’t there more world cultures between which a textile-based intervention might be needed?
Written for Culture24