Three of my knitting films will be part of a screening programe about textiles, taking place in New York. The screenings have been put together by Jasmin Risk – a NY-based interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator. The screenings are all part of New York Textile Month.

It’s great to see a program that focuses on textiles as a subject or way to approach moving images. I haven’t come accross something like this since the Crafts Council UK’s ‘Real to Reel’ programs, although they covered a broader set f practices. So to have something that focuses just on textiles is really exciting. I’m very curious to learn more about the program as a whole.

I’m extremely grateful to have 3 films included – 1 in each screening – which vary from social commentary and absurdist documentation to, er, exercise video!

If I had the chance I’d be there in a heartbeat, but i’m sadly caught up with work in Montreal. Who knows, maybe I can bring the program here in the future. If you do live in New York and you’re interested in textiles then damn it you have to go! details of venues and dates below – INCLUDING the ONLINE SCREENING Sunday 14th. I’ll update this page if I get more info (UPDATED WITH LINKS), but you can also follow Jasmin Risk’s instagram here.

PROGRAM

Trouble at the Mill (2019)
part of Textiles on Film
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Sunday, September 14th at
Millennium Film Workshop,
167 Wilson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11237
>> event link
>> ALSO online screening

CECI N’EST PAS UN SPECTACLE (2015)
part of Film on Textiles
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Thursday, September 18th
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium, room N101,
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
66 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
>> event link

Craftercise (2019) (made with Marie Jones)
part of Textiles on Film on Textiles
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Thursday, September 25th
Seventh Heaven, 4 Irving Ave, Brooklyn, NY
>> event link

Two of the films are collaborations with fellow knitters. CECI N’EST PAS UN SPECTACLE came out of a research and creation residency with ONF & MUTEK in 2015. I developed this project with artist and knitter Marilene Gaudet which looks at the overlapping and conflicting perspectives of people living, working or moving through downtown Montreal. Craftercise is a fun exercise video based wround the materials and movements of machine knitting, It was conceived by Marie Jones, who stars as the dayglo instructor, and we shot and edited it in a day.

The other film, Trouble at the Mill, is an animated recreation of a fire that occured in the Crusader Works building in 2017, during a lease dispute with the landlord, developers Capital & Centric. I’ve written a lot about this and other related works that dealt with the eviction of textile communities from the building (you can get a good overview from this video here). It really pleases me to think that somewhere in New York, the coolest city on earth, a bunch of engaged and no doubt very cool people will be learning about this small fire in a knitting factory at Crusader Mill in Manchester, and the bullying actions of those absolute cringe-lords, Capital & Centric.