On Weaving: History between the threads

For its major retrospective of Olga de Amaral, a key figure of the Colombian art scene and of Fiber Art, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is partnering with AWARE (Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions) for a highlight on textile arts and invites researchers and artists to question the practice of weaving from a feminist and decolonial perspective.

Long considered a minor art linked to intrinsically feminine, domestic practices and therefore marginalized, textiles have become since the 1960s a material for contemporary art in various forms: installations, sculptures, conceptual works. This reappropriation of textiles and weaving techniques by women artists is often accompanied by feminist demands. However, this development does not remedy the asymmetries in the study of works produced in different parts of the world: some are perceived through an anthropological prism while others are studied from the perspective of art history.

During this meeting, the speakers will question the historical links between gender and textile arts, their valorization, marginalization and differentiated receptions. They will discuss the issues of intergenerational transmission of techniques and their rooting in Latin American and Andean thinking. Two round-table talks and filmed studio visits will combine theoretical and practical perspectives to offer a cross-view of the transformative potential of these practices.

- Introduction
With: Camille Morineau (co-founder and director of AWARE) and Chris Dercon (general director of the Fondation Cartier)

- Keynote
With: Janis Jefferies (artist, researcher and curator)

- Talk: Textile arts: historical perspectives through the prism of gender
With: Ann Coxon (curator and art historian), Janis Jefferies (artist, researcher and curator), Marta Kowalewska (curator at the Central Museum of Textiles, Łódź) and Ida Soulard (independent curator)
Moderated by: Marie Perennès (curator of the exhibition Olga de Amaral)

- Filmed studio visit: Marie Hazard (artist)
Q&A animated by Aby Gaye (curator at the Fondation Cartier)

- Talk: Entering into tension: textile practices between worlds
With: Carolina Ariza (curator and researcher), Andrei Fernández (curator and researcher), Amanda Pinatih (curator Design & Contemporary art at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam) and Annabela Tournon Zubieta (researcher)
Moderated by: Nina Volz (head of international development for AWARE)

- Filmed studio visit: Kenia Almaraz Murillo (artist)
Q&A animated by Matylda Taszycka (head of research programmes for AWARE)