Yarn-dez-vous
Wearable device, interactive performance, video (2014)
Commissioned by Edge of Arabia, UK
Yarn-dez-vous is a tactic cartography questioning what constitutes the geography of Middle Eastern and Islamic Art. The project takes the form of a wearable quilt featuring textiles from the MENA region and the United States. This fabric was chosen to map the identities, migration, and cultural encounters of its participants (wearers of the quilt). The quilt’s hexagons and stars can be transformed into individual letterman’s jackets and vice versa: the jackets unzip flat into geometric elements that fold into the larger quilt. The project name is a portmanteau word that combines the words “yarn” and “rendez-vous.” “Yarn” is both a thread and a story while “rendez-vous” refers to a meeting or a romance.
Project participants were asked to bring textiles from the places of their residence featuring the color code of the Sadu (Arabic weaving), which were combined with textiles from Boston. Twelve jackets were then made with these hybrid textiles. The project is in the state of an ongoing transformation and customization, developing personal logos, letters and stars, to be embroidered onto the jackets. Some jackets may be further transformed into variations on tunics, kaftans, abayas, dresses and shirts, inspired from East and West. The ongoing project will exhibit changes in color and pattern as it grows, becoming a map of the path taken by the transcultural participants as they offer their own cloth contributions.
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Project commissioned by the Edge of Arabia,UK, for the CULTURUNNERS expedition.
Materials: 12 jackets, textiles, zippers, trimming, single-channel video (5 min)
Dimensions: jacket (open constellation), 120 x 220 cm
Concept, design, and artistic direction: Azra Akšamija
Research: Regina Möller, Karina Silvester, Lillian Harden (conceptual contributions)
Production: Karina Silvester, Lillian Harden (prototype development), Andy Boit, Emily Tow, Emma Harden, Elliot McLaughlin (sewing); Bjorn Eric Sparrman, Seth Avecilla (installation); Gedney H Barclay, Sooyoung Kwon (project videos)
Participants: Ahmed Mater, Arwa Alneami, Arthur Tres, Katrina Weber Ashour, Matthew Mazzotta, Regina Möller, Ziad El Sayed (textile donations)
Sponsoring: Edge of Arabia, in partnership with Art Jameel.