...Artists use machine unraveling to create tension between humans and machines, such as Laura Splan’s Material Expressions No.2 (2016) where the artist is continuously stitching a knit item that is being unraveled on the other end by a machine. Knitting is an interesting use case for ephemeral fabrication because though knitters are aware of this affordance (the ability to "frog" a piece of knitting for editing or re-use), those who do not knit might view it as a static and per- manent object. There might also be tensions among knitters (and hand-knitters especially) who are aware of the amount of work and time that goes into creating a knit. Here we explore how audiences feel about taking apart knits, and compare with previous work on destruction as an interaction...
This paper explores how people experience public displays that take apart machine-crafted items, as a design resource. We use the affordance of knitting as an ephemeral fabrication method (that can be gradually pulled apart and unraveled) as a way of understanding how individuals feel about unraveling crafted textiles in public. We designed machine-knit panels as tapestries, and developed an interactive yarn winder that unravels those panels as individuals pass them. This resulted in a textile-based artwork series Unraveling (2022-2023), and we present two iterative public installations, and results from a user study. Our study findings highlight users’ empathy toward others and mindful interaction: being aware that defabricating a piece is finite. Insights also revealed tensions between admiring playful sustainable practices and feeling guilty of destruction.
