electronic text + textiles project

Electronic Text and Textiles Project

A platform facilitating artistic investigation and production in the fields of literature, language, textiles, and
material culture, promoting expression at the intersections of print, cloth, and electronic technologies
(http://www.e-text-textiles.lv).

Context ^

The textile and text connection runs deep – as can be inferred from Derrida's writings on Plato where both
construction and deconstruction find expression in conceptual 'threads.' Concurrently, there is a long Islamic
tradition of embroidering or weaving Koranic texts into cloth, a production of stable, unchanging forms that
remains a powerful alternative to Western organicism and becoming. Alternatives exist, however, within Western
culture also, as generations of little girls learnt their alphabet by embroidering it on fabric along with edifying
precepts and biblical texts. Metaphors of thread and weaving have frequently been used in relation to written
texts to symbolise the interwoven relationship between ideas and language.

Historically it is possible to cite numerous links between text and textile crafts. Currently there are new
convergences involving conceptual threads and material practices in a multiplicity of media. One example near at
hand is this journal, ebr (www.electronicbookreview.com), edited by the organizers of the Project. In ebr, long
recognized as a cultural leader by both literary and textiles media, the notion of a periodical ‘issue’ is replaced by
multiple conceptual ‘threads,’ and a weaving metaphor governs the journal design. The thread structure allows
content to be released continuously because each essay can be gathered not only with current items, but with
past items that participate in the thread, thus extending the essay’s life and connectivity. Hundreds of essays,
poems, free-standing Web projects, and fictional narratives both produced for the journal and selected from the
Web environment can be ‘gathered’ (like the folds in a cloth), glossed, and combined according to common
semantic features. More flexible than the notion of a hypertext ‘link,’ the weaving of literary and cultural texts
becomes a process, as much a patchwork as a network. It is here, in electronic book review threads such as
webarts, It is here, in the electronic book review threads such as webarts and end construction, that
writers and artists associated with the Project will write about, and enact, the key concepts informing their
researches.

Textiles are one of the most ancient and important components of our material culture. In the form of clothing,
architectural membranes and interior fabrics, textiles have been a non-verbal performance throughout various
social, economical, and political stages in every culture. Traditionally considered a feminine art form, textiles
make explicit, and visible, the way that communication is layered, containing many nuances and meanings in
every expression. A textile, like a literary text, is capable of reflecting on various cultures and values through the
artist’s choice of colours, patterns, and textures. Textual practice, with all of its deviation from linear narrative
and single-minded political quests, has often brought feminist issues out of the background and into
consciousness; even in Homer’s Odyssey the queen Penelope is told to leave the business of the state to men
and get back to her weaving.

Rapid technological and scientific developments in the past two decades have made a huge impact on our lives.
Creative industries, including text and textile based practices, are not only commenting on these issues but also
exploring the new possibilities, giving visual, material form to the changes, and so participating in, not just
reacting to, the present.

 
Mission ^

The Electronic Text and Textiles Project examines the position of text and textiles within the constantly
shifting technological reality through theoretical and practice-based enquiry. It hosts creative makers, writers,
researchers, and theoreticians in residence, initiates dialogue and organises presentations and seminars. The
Project offers professional development, networking possibilities and small-scale production facilities for visiting
artists, designers, writers, and scholars from Europe and beyond. It is open to anyone interested in the cultural
debate evolving around, across, or through the interaction of literature, language, technologies, and the arts, in
particular textiles related. The expected result is a dynamic and critical exchange among the various agents
within and outside the Electronic Text and Textiles Project.

Electronic Text and Textiles Project facilitates practical and scholarly investigations and material productions
by artists, who wish to give direction to the changing technologies and define the terms of a changing cultural
context. The project hosts not just commentaries on new technology; it is itself a practical, social, and aesthetic
outcome of the technologies. (The interaction between stability and impermanence is conveyed in the ebr thread
titled, 'end construction.')

Aims ^

The aims of the Electronic Text and Textiles Project are:

 to provide a common platform for the workers of literature, art and design and to enable theoretical and
artistic investigation, production, presentation, and discussion;
 to support trans-disciplinary and transcultural exchange of ideas and knowledge among the
practitioners and scholars of literature, languages, science, and the arts;
 to foster and promote forms of creativity and interdisciplinary research using technologies in relation to
these practices;
 to identify and study the territories that text and textiles occupy within the context of changing
technologies and electronic fabrications.

Residency ^

Residency is based in Riga, the capital of Latvia. It welcomes artists, designers, writers, researchers and
theoreticians working within or across the fields of literature and the arts, in particular textiles related. The
Electronic Text and Textiles Project encourages Residents, through a mix of conceptual investigations and
material productions, to join in a decades-long project among writers and artists involved in the Alt-X and ebr
network. This group has been working consistently, not just to replace one technology with another in literary
and arts practices, but to give direction and cultural context to technological change and the electronic
disturbance.

Residencies shall be conducted through self-directed individual or collaborative work/research projects, which
should maintain a high level of quality with an international, worldly perspective. We are happy to discuss
different models of residencies and seek expressions of interest from artists, designers, writers, scientists and
theoreticians interested in exploring connections between text and textiles in general and the impact of
technologies on these practices in particular.

Term ^
Artists, designers, writers, and theoreticians who submit a project proposal and are subsequently selected,
become residents at the Electronic Text and Textiles Project. The term of a Residency can be as short as a week
or as long as several months. During the period of one's stay, a Resident artist, designer, or writer will have
exclusive use of a live/work apartment in Riga, access to artists, writers, and culture administrators working in
the Baltics, and continuing access to an extensive network of writers, artists, critics, and scholars working in
electronic environments worldwide.

Residents will be free to pursue their own or collaborative projects, although we expect that the Resident's work
should appear in some form in ebr (http://www.electronicbookreview.com) or at the Alt-X site (www.altx.com).
Residents will be expected, also, to meet with members of the local arts and literary communities, either
informally or by giving a lecture or seminar at the Residence workplace.

Facility ^

The Residency is housed in a newly renovated apartment building in the 'quiet center' of Riga, not far from the
River Daugava and the planned Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art. The second-floor apartment, which is
combined with a studio (135m2), is sparcely furnished, spacious, and equipped with most amenities except for a
television. The building, renovated by in 2004, was originally the home of the Riga Sailor's Union, a Bauhaus
construction in a neighbourhood of Bauhaus and Jugenstil buildings and Nineteenth Century wooden houses. A
bank of windows overlooks a quiet cobbled street and Petrov Park, featuring a Washington Square style arch, a
monument to a tree planted there by Peter the Great, and numerous sculptures and monuments from the Soviet
era.

In the apartment, Residents will have use of a spacious office/studio area, 2 writing desks, an HP laptop
(Windows; Adobe; DSL Internet access); a telephone allowing internationally direct dialling; a dining table
seating six; and a bookshelf featuring publications by past Residents. There is good lighting throughout the
apartment and lamps over tables, divans, and workspaces, a full kitchen, bathroom, and a separate
living/bedroom with a convertable sofa/bed. The apartment/studio can comfortably accommodate 2 people. The
studio is appropriate for 'tidy' practices such as writing, collation of information, digital work, visual research,
drawing, and small-scale experimentation and production. Larger productions such as weaving, printing, and so
forth shall be executed in collaboration with other venues, which will be negotiated on an individual basis.

Location ^

The apartment is a five minute walk from buses and trams, which run regularly at all hours and normally reach
the Old City in five or ten minutes. The walk to the Old City is between 20 and 30 minutes, and it takes just 10
minutes to reach the famed row of Jugenstil houses on Alberta Street.

Fees ^

Residents pay 40 Euro per day per apartment/studio, all bills included (except telephone bill). If selected for the
residency Electronic Text and Textiles Project Residents have to secure their own funding for their travel,
subsistence, and materials.

Application ^
Applicants are asked to submit a one-page (up to 500 words) letter indicating how your work intersects with the
Project (as described above). Please include with the letter your name, affiliation, email address, a short biopic,
CV, and 6-8 digital images of relevant recent work as compressed jpgs (arts and design practitioners) or a
sample of written work (writers and scholars).

When applying, please indicate the preferred length and time of your residency along with any particular
equipment needs. Details will be worked out in subsequent correspondence with the Project Directors. Letters of
application should be sent (by email only) to Project Manager Aija Freimane, ebr@altx.com.

Deadline ^

Ongoing – preferably at least 2 months before the start of the expected Residency.

Members of the Electronic Text and Textiles Project Board ^

Prof. Joseph Tabbi is the author of Cognitive Fictions (Minnesota 2002), and Postmodern Sublime (Cornell
1995,) books that examine the effects of new technologies on contemporary American fiction. He edits the
Electronic Book Review and has edited and introduced William Gaddis's last fiction and collected non-fiction
(Viking/Penguin). His essay on Mark Amerika appeared at the Walker Art Center's phon:e:me site, a 2000 Webby
Award nominee. Also online (at the Iowa Review Web) is an essay-narrative, titled "Overwriting," an interview,
and a review of his recent work. He is professor of English at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and Director of
the Electronic Literature Organization.

Relevant links:
http://www.altx.com/ebr
http://phoneme.walkerart.org/
http://www.uiowa.edu/~iareview/tirweb/feature/tabbi/
http://www.eliterature.org

Dr. Zane Berzina is a textile designer, artist, and researcher. She works on interdisciplinary projects across the
fields of science, technology, art, and crafts. Her practice and research evolves around responsive and interactive
textiles, new materials, processes and technologies as well as current biomimetic practices. Recent work explores
skin as a 'naturally intelligent material' and examines its aesthetic and functional potential for translation into
active textile systems. Current investigations are concerned with issues regarding biological senses such as
vision, olfactory, and touch in particular. She is leading a group of international researchers, practitioners and
scientists on a research project 'E-Static Shadows' funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

She holds degrees from The University of the Arts Berlin; Master of Art in European Fashion and Textile Design
from Southampton University, UK; PhD from the University of the Arts London and has widely participated in
exhibitions around Europe. Zane Berzina is involved in cultural debate across design, art, technology, and
creativity, and contributes to international conferences and academic publications. She has lectured at the
Goldsmiths College in London, Department of Visual Art and at The University of Arts Berlin, College of Design
and Architecture, Institute for Experimental Fashion and Textile Design, Germany. Currently she is Research
Fellow at the Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles, Goldsmiths College and Associate
Member of Goldsmiths Digital Studios, London.

Relevant links:
http://www.zaneberzina.com
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/constance-howard/research/research-projects2.php
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/gds/people.php
Dr. Manuela Rossini has joined the team of Co-Creative Directors in May 2007. She studied English and
Spanish at the University of Basel and then worked at the University of St. Gallen for Business Administration,
Economics, Law, and Social Science. While there, she helped produce an English-German critical edition of
Shakespeare's King Lear, before she went to Cardiff to do a second MA in Critical and Cultural Theory in 1994.
From 1995-2000 she was teaching in the Department of English at the University of Basel, from where she also
received her PhD in 2002 with a dissertation called From House to Home: Meanings of the family in early modern
English drama and culture. She acted as the coordinator of a proposal for an interdisciplinary National Centre for
Competence in Research in the field of Gender Studies before a postdoc scholarship of the Swiss National Science
Foundation took her to the Netherlands. She organised the 4th European Conference of the SLSA (Society for
Literature, Science and the Arts), which took place in Amsterdam in June 2006. Her current transdisciplinary
book project looks at figurations of the posthuman (body, subject, culture) in literary, philosophical, and scientific
texts. Picking up the thread offered by Leibniz and then Deleuze, she sees the world (and herself) as a complex
texture of infinite folds that transversally weave through compressed space-time in a continuous movement of
becoming.

Relevant links:
http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/m.s.rossini/
http://www.rodopi.nl/senj.asp?SerieId=EP

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