Craftwerk 2.0

Group Exhibition

Curated by Clara Åhlvik & Otto von Busch

Jönköpings läns Museum Jönköping, Sweden

September 2009 - January 2010

Artists: Faythe Levine, Stephanie Syjuco, House of Diehl, Zoe Sheehan, Cat Mazza, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Rudiger Schlomer, Asa Stahl och Kristina Lindstrom, Laura Splan, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Kaywa, Despina Papadopoulos, Leah Buechley, Amy Twigger Holroyd, Masquerade, Ulrika Erdes, Radical Cross Stitch "Ninja" Maria Halvarson, Radical Cross Stitch "Kakariki" Reyna Fahey, Joern Schmidt, A M Whitney, Erin Dollar, Melanie Howard, Cigdem Kaya, Jenny Hart, Kana Takahashi, Anna Boberg, Semra, Jennifer Seeger, Kristin Roach, Elizaveta Kameleon Yankelovich, Ann N Michy

[ View Exhibition Catalog JPG ]

 

Photography: Göran Sandstedt
Images Courtesy of Jönköpings läns Museum

About This Exhibit

Over the last decade there has been a surge in crafts among young practitioners, often combined with political aspirations and networked efforts over the internet. From being a personal hobby the textile crafts have gone public and methods, techniques and tools are shared among users in ways similar to what we have seen in internet phenomena like Facebook and Wikipedia. Craftwerk 2.0 is an exhibition that explores the new "updated" textile crafts that are developed by a new generation of serious amateurs, innovative craftsmen, engaged entrepreneurs and political practitioners. Once again the home, the Greek Oikos, is the workshop where economic and ecologic innovation happens – not only in the labs of the industrial expertise. After decades of outsourcing the new modes of production are in the hands of the layperson. It is here, among the professional-amateurs, the Pro-Ams, we can see the seeds for new forms of practice and where craftsmanship is developed into innovative and high standards – parallel to the dominant industrial or knowledge economy. Here, the division of labour between producer and consumer, expert and dilettante, work and hobby have been blurred and once again the love of the amateur (from the French root Amare – to love) is the driving work ethic. Craft and activism merges into craftivism and the politics of the future are shaped hands-on by the kitchen table. This is where micro-utopias are formed through new shared and distributed household tactics. Welcome to Craftwerk 2.0.