Textile Thinking
InternationalSymposium of the 2nd Hangzhou Triennialof Fiber Art 2016
Timing：September 26th - 28th, 2016
Venue:Zhejiang Art Museum
Organizer:China Academy of Art, Zhejiang Art Museum
Co-Organizer: Mill6 Foundation
MediaSupport：Artron Art Net, ArtGoer, Leap Magazine
Activity Schedule
September 26th, 14：00 - 17:30
Opening Speech：Prof. Shi Hui, Artistic Director of Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art
1—Keynote Speech: Thinking Through Textile
Speaker:Sarat Maharaj
2—Discussion: Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj, Xu Jiang
September 27th, 9：00 - 12:00
TheContexts and Pragmatics of Fiber Art
9：00 - 10：15
Researchers’Works
Host: Guo Xiaoyan, Deputy Director of Beijing Minsheng Art Museum
1、JessicaHemmings，writer,educatorand curator, Chief Editor of Cultural Threads.
2、MichalJachula，writerand curator
3、SandyHsiuchih Lo，curatorand writer
10：30 - 12：00
The Contexts andPragmatics of Fiber Art
Host：HangJian，directorof International Design Museum, Hangzhou
1、BrunoYthier, Chief Curator at the Cite de la Tapisserie, Aubusson
2、BrendaDanilowitz，ChiefCurator of Josef and Anni Albers Foundation
3、EdithCheung Sai May ，textileeducator, researcher and writer
4、AngelikaLi，Director,MILL6 Foundation
September27th，14:00—17:30
TheContexts and Pragmatics of Fiber Art
14:00—15:15
FiberArt Cartography: Experience in China
Host: Liu Xiao, curator of the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art 2016
1、Xu Jia：TheStory of Embroidery：Embroiderers & Skills
2、Zhang Yuling: Peony in Chinese Textile
3、Chen Haoru：Weaving & Architecture
15:30 -17:30
Weaving Memory
Host:Sun Zhenhua, theorist, curator
1、Hew Locke
2、Hu Xiaoyuan
3、Kimsooja
Panelist：JanisJeffries（writer,educator and curator），CaoDan (Publisher of LEAP and TANC)
September28th，9:00 - 12:00
Round Table Talk
Futures of Our Work
Host：YangZhenyu, Director of the School of Humanism and Art History,China Academyof Art
Assadour Markarov——artist, educator and curator of the2nd Hangzhou Triennial of
Fiber Art, Sun Zhenhua——curator and writer, Chief Editor of China SculptureMagazine, Shi Hui——artist, educator and curator, Artistic Director ofHangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Shan Zeng—— artist, educator and curator, Director of the School ofArt Management and Education, China Academy of Art,Angelika Li——Director of the MILL6 Foundation, Mizuki Takahashi—— Senior curator, MILL6 Foundation, Marta Kowalewska——PhD and writer on Polish fiber art history, Michal Jachula——Writer and curator, Grant Watson—— Curator and researcher based in London, Jessica Hemmings—— writer,educator and curator, Chief Editor of CulturalThreads, Janis Jeffries—— Writer, educator and curator, Professor of Visual Arts,Goldsmiths College., Xu Jia—— curator of the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Liu Xiao——curator of the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Asli Samadova——curator on textiles, Sandy Hsiuchih Lo，curatorand writer, Chen Yiming——Artron Art Net, Mitchell Denburg——Director of the The New RootsFoundation
TextileThinking/Theme and Discussion
The theme of the Second Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art is “Weaving &We”. If we look at this theme from the perspective of fiber art, the key wordwill be “weaving”, and if we view it from the perspective of the Triennial’s perspective, the key word will be “we”. By using the phrase “Weaving & We”, we aim to consider the issuesof existence and perception through “weaving”-- the most basic and popularmeans in the field of fiber art. The word “we” is not a medium here but asubject full of active consciousness. Gottfried Semper, the German architect,once said: “In the beginning there was textile art.” From his words, we feelthat “weaving”, the fundamental work of humankind, has been upgradingaccompanied by the evolvement of humankind. The appearance of the word “weaving”stands for the birth of “labor”; the existence of “weaving” is a sign for theexistence of humankind; the development of “weaving” represents the progressthat humankind has made. No matter in what language, the meaning of “weaving” hasalready gone beyond the traditional weaving practice, pointing to all intricatedand complicated things. The object of weaving can be not only such concretethings as silk, linen, bamboo, rattans, hairs, bodies, commodities andconstructions but also some abstracts such as thoughts, emotions, languages,words, identities and interests. Besides, the object can be culture, art,production, life, location and history that created by the mix and crash ofboth concrete and abstract things. On the basis of understanding the word “weaving”literally and extensively, we set the theme of the international symposium ofthe 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art 2016 as “TextileThinking”. This theme is neither certain specific history or story presentingin textiles, nor the statement or expression through the activity of weaving,the mechanism and cultural implication behind the narration of textiles. Actually,the theme denotes the complex but orderly thinking and questioning, just liketextiles. The words “I think, therefore I am” provide a way to respond “existence”with “thinking”, which is the most powerful illustration for the themes “TextileThinking” and “Weaving & We”.
The subject of “Textile Thinking” is the “we” in “Weaving & We” and “we” can be craftsmen, artists, manufacturers, collectors, scholars,researchers, philosophers, litterateurs and curators. According to thedifference of these subjects, the symposium divides various topics into severalgroups and aims to illustrate the theme of ‘textiles’as ‘thinking’ in the view of philosophers, curators, researchers, museum scholars, artists and critics.
Opening Speech：Prof. Shi Hui, Artistic Director of Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art
September 26th, 14：00 - 17:30
1—Keynote Speech: Thinking Through Textile
Speaker:Sarat Maharaj
arat Maharaj was born in apartheid South Africa. From the year 1980 to2005, he was Professor of Art and Art Theory in Goldsmiths College, University of London. Currently, he is a visiting researchprofessor in Goldsmiths and Professor of Visual Arts and Knowledge Systems atthe MalmöArt Academy at Lund University in Sweden. Sarat focusesmainly on Marcel Duchamp, James Joyce and Richard Hamilton. His writingsinclude: visual arts as well- or not well-organized knowledge; textile, foreignphonetics and cultural translation; non-western modernity and othersociological studies. Besides, he is the organizer and curator of a series ofnew media art labs and contemporary visual arts exhibitions, boosting thereformation of European art research. He once held the post of initiator andacademic member of the Gothenburg Biennale and the São Paulo Biennale, as well as the curator of the 9th Kassel Documenta.
Prof. Maharaj’s thoughts over textiles began in 1980s. From theperspective of materials and images, he takes textiles as art production andcultural representation, and takes the creation with textiles as the productionof knowledge. This will be the first time for Prof. Maharaj to talk abouttextiles on the platform relating to exhibitions in Asian countries so thiswill be a translation experiment of textiles for him.
Discussion: Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj, Xu Jiang
2—TheContexts and Pragmatics of Fiber Art
This series of talks plans to invite museums, research institutes withimportant textiles and fiber art collections or related works tointroduce their collections, historical studies and recent projects. Based onthe fact that the Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art aims to promote thecreation and collection of fiber art works, these talks will create a fiber artplatform of “launch–research-exhibition–collection”. On one hand, it will helpto deepen the exhibitions of contemporary art relatedto textiles and fiber, while on the other hand, it will fuel the cultural andintellectual in-depth development in the industry. As a beginning, these talkswill depict a general history and vision for the contemporary art at presentthrough museum’s collections and studies.
9：00 - 10：15
Researchers’Works
Host: Guo Xiaoyan, Deputy Director of Beijing Minsheng Art Museum
1、JessicaHemmings，writer,educatorand curator, Chief Editor of Cultural Threads.
2、MichalJachula，writerand curator
3、SandyHsiuchih Lo，curatorand writer
10：30 - 12：00
The Contexts andPragmatics of Fiber Art
Host：HangJian，directorof International Design Museum, Hangzhou
1、BrunoYthier, Chief Curator at the Cite de la Tapisserie, Aubusson
2、BrendaDanilowitz，ChiefCurator of Josef and Anni Albers Foundation
3、EdithCheung Sai May ，textileeducator, researcher and writer
4、AngelikaLi，Director,MILL6 Foundation
September27th，14:00—17:30。
14:00—15:15
3—FiberArt Cartography: Experience in China
Host: Liu Xiao, curator of the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art 2016
The geographical relationship is the first reason why the Triennial of Fiber Art is being discussed at present on the stage of art.20 years ago, we might discuss the problems resulted from urbanization in Chinawhereas when it comes to experience in China today, the world attention is paidnot only to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen but also to local placeswith more cultural cores and more concrete experience. Such experience in Chinais mostly proposed by younger researchers. For one thing, we dismantle theentrenched history while for another, we present new problems and new visionswith practices in order to open the experience in China.
1、Xu Jia：TheStory of Embroidery：Embroiderers & Skills
2、Zhang Yuling: Peony in Chinese Textile
3、Chen Haoru：Weaving & Architecture
15:30 -17:30
4—WeavingMemory
Host:Sun Zhenhua, theorist, curator
Based on the practices of artists towards textiles, this part reveals howtextiles and fibers become the carrier of memories of the artists’inner world, on the individual and of the society, and how textiles wakeup our thinking of touch related to art.
1、Hew Locke
2、Hu Xiaoyuan
3、Kimsooja
Panelist：JanisJeffries（writer,educator and curator），CaoDan (Publisher of LEAP and TANC)
September28th，9:00 - 12:00。
Round Table Talk
Futures of Our Work
Host：YangZhenyu, Director of the School of Humanism and Art History,China Academyof Art
Assadour Markarov——artist, educator and curator of the2nd Hangzhou Triennial of
Fiber Art, Sun Zhenhua——curator and writer, Chief Editor of China SculptureMagazine, Shi Hui——artist, educator and curator, Artistic Director ofHangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Shan Zeng—— artist, educator and curator, Director of the School ofArt Management and Education, China Academy of Art,Angelika Li——Director of the MILL6 Foundation, Mizuki Takahashi—— Senior curator, MILL6 Foundation, Marta Kowalewska——PhD and writer on Polish fiber art history, Michal Jachula——Writer and curator, Grant Watson—— Curator and researcher based in London, Jessica Hemmings—— writer,educator and curator, Chief Editor of CulturalThreads, Janis Jeffries—— Writer, educator and curator, Professor of Visual Arts,Goldsmiths College., Xu Jia—— curator of the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Liu Xiao——curator of the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Asli Samadova——curator on textiles, Sandy Hsiuchih Lo，curatorand writer, Chen Yiming——Artron Art Net, Mitchell Denburg——Director of the The New RootsFoundation
TEL：0671-87078700 | Email：zjam@zjam.org.cn
