Craftivism
Zoe Shearman
2007
Zoe Shearman is working with the Arnolfini, Bristol, and Anne Coxon, Assistant Curator Tate Modern, to develop Craftivism, a contemporary art project that concerns the area of research between craft, contemporary art and socially engaged practice. It will take place at the Arnolfini between 12 December 2009 and 14 February 2010.
‘Craftivism’ responds to the resurgent interest in craft as it relates to socially-engaged art practices. It involves projects developed by artists and collectives that work with craft-based traditions and activist practices, and who employ the tactics of ‘craftivism’ (combining crafting + activism) to subvert the dominant modes of mass culture and consumerism.
Craftivism includes artist-led participatory projects developed with local communities; online and free software-related projects; a gallery-based interactive exhibition; workshops; performances and film. ‘unCraftivism’, an open event exploring distributed forms of curating, will take place during the opening weekend.
The project will invite public interaction and provide opportunities to take part, make work and learn craft-based skills to customise products. It will encourage wider communities to embrace the ‘freedom’ to create, modify and distribute products and demonstrates the possibilities for people to modify their own lives.
http://relational.org.uk
http://anti-bodies.net
