Contemporary Textile Art

Membranes of Relation

Forfattere

Nøgleord:

Textile art, contemporary art, art history, relationscapes, minor gestures

Resumé

The premise of the article is that textile art has been ignored as a contributor to art historical thinking. At the same time, in recent years, we have seen how textile - whether weaving, embroidery, appliqué, and more - has gained a foothold on the contemporary art scene. This schism has inspired the article, which first briefly presents its topic through a historical review of the status of textile works in the history of art, then introduces to the concepts of ‘relationscapes’ and ‘minor gesture’, developed by Erin Manning, to be applied on a discussion of current textile works by artists Anne-Sofie Overgaard, Kari Steihaug, and Anne Cathrin November Høibo. It is the article’s aim to demonstrate how the activation of spatial relations between the artworks and viewers should be included in art historical thinking as minor gestures questioning art historical judgements in which painting has hitherto been the dominant art form.

Forfatterbiografier

Bodil Marie Stavning Thomsen, Aarhus Universitet

Bodil Marie Stavning Thomsen is a professor of Culture and Media at the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University. She is a member of the Scientific Committee for COST-Action (EU) and the Swedish Research Council’s Redistribution Committee. She was PI of Affects, Interfaces, Events (Denmark, 2015-2021), part of the steering group of Immediation: Art, Media and Event (Canada, 2013-2021), and PI of Realism, Reality, the Real in a Visual Perspective (Denmark 1999-2003). Her main research fields are haptic visuality and affect studies in audiovisual and digital culture. Recent publications include “Interfacial Modulations of Affect” in Thomsen et al. (eds.) Affects, Interfaces, Events (2021), “Haptic Transmedial Affects Throughout the Work of Lars von Trier” in Vernallis et al. (eds.) Transmedia Directors (2020), “The Automata of Movement” in Manning et al. (eds.) Immediation I (2019), and Lars von Trier’s Renewal of Film 1984-2014: Signal, Pixel, Diagram (2018).

Ulla Angkjær Jørgensen, NTNU – Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet

Ulla Angkjær-Jørgensen is an associate professor of Art History at the Department of Art and Media Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She is the PI of The Feminist Legacy in Art Museums (Norway, 2020-2026) and of Museums and Textiles in Trondheim (Norway, 2023-2026). She was part of the research projects Negotiations and Struggle (Norway, 2010-2013) and The Sámi Art Project (2009-2017). Her main research interests are feminist and gender perspectives on contemporary and modernist art and art history. Her latest publications include “Emancipated Bodies” in Greaves (ed.) Modern Women Artists in the Nordic Countries, 1900-1960 (2021), “Reformulations of the ‘Natural’ World’” in Toft Ag (ed.) Digital Dynamics in Nordic Contemporary Art (2019), “Colonial Bodies in Display Cases and Spectating Bodies” in Gjerden et al. (eds.) Exploring the Black Venus Figure in Aesthetic Practices (2019), and “Performing the Forgotten” in Aamold et al. (eds.) Sámi Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives (2017).

Referencer

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Blæsbjerg Ørum, Anette: “Den nordiske Tekstiltriennale” in Tekstile udtryk: en introduktion, Lisbeth Tolstrup (ed.), Jyllinge, FiberFeber, 2010, pp. 108-127.

Breivik, Andreas: “Thread-Bare” in Kunstkritikk/Nordic Art Review, 14 April 2023, online at https://kunstkritikk.com/thread-bare/ (accessed 7 January 2025).

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Henmo, Ingvill: “Each Garment Holds a Memory. Interview with Kari Steihaug” in Kari Steihaug, Nina M. Schønsby (ed.). Stuttgart, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2022, pp. 159-167.

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Veiteberg, Jorunn: “Om kunst, kjønn og arbeid” in Ann Cathrin November Høibo. Søvn er livets Sum (exhibition catalogue), Kristiansand Kunsthall, Kristiansand, 2023.

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Publiceret

2025-06-06

Nummer

Årg. 27 Nr. 45 (2025): Tekstile tendenser

Sektion

Artikler