[[KHC Newsletter]] This is our second newsletter: The roving editors of this second issue greet you, and hope the following offerings meet your interest. The Knowledge House has grown from an informal gathering to an active knowledge-building and sharing platform, with a [board](https://knowledgehouseforcraft.org/About), a growing network of [member associations](https://knowledgehouseforcraft.org/About), and consortium participants. Our [manifesto](https://knowledgehouseforcraft.org/Projects/Manifesto) has guided our activities to date. The vault is a place where a dynamic group of volunteers store articles related to craft and provide House guests with a summary of its key points. The main update to the vault this time is the report on Following the Algorithm, [New journeys through the world of textiles](https://knowledgehouseforcraft.org/Warp/Talks/Follow+the+algorithm+-+New+journeys+through+the+world+of+textiles), in which a method for curating collection objects using an algorithm has been developed by Microsoft for the MAP Academy. In related news, the [Value of Craft Project](https://knowledgehouseforcraft.org/Projects/The+Value+of+Craft+Project) has made a significant step forward. Editors have been appointed who are responsible for specific values of craft. They include Liliana Morais, Linda McIntosh, Sachiko Tamashige, Tricia Flanagan, Jenan Taylor, Laila Al-Hamad, Sharon Tsang-de Lyster, Juliette MacDonald, Kaamya Sharma and Kevin Murray. They will help distil the knowledge about the benefits of craft across the broad spectrum of interests. The initial findings will be presented in September. The report is planned to be published in October 2024. Using the KHC vault, this will be an ongoing knowledge vault.  The [Sensorium series in Garland magazine has begun](https://garlandmag.com/issue-30/) with an issue on taste. [Proposals for stories in the June issue](https://garlandmag.com/issue-31/) are invited. The theme is "To Hear" and will feature the auditory nature of objects. Finally, this newsletter is also a vehicle to pose questions that we have been ruminating on. Here’s our question to ponder for this issue: Is there an artisanal way of thinking? The recent revolution in artificial intelligence with ChatGPT represents a broader challenge to human agency. Just as Google Maps replaced our navigation skills, so ChatGPT promises to replace our writing and even cognitive skills. The appearance of Chat GPT and its relationship to craft could be seen as analogous to the challenges the Arts and Crafts movement identified with the Industrial Revolution. What may be gained and lost in the process? When machines replaced craftspersons, we were prompted to ask the question, "Is it made by hand?". Now, when reading text, we ask ourselves, "Was it written by a human?". The challenge is to extend critical craft discourse beyond the machine to the algorithm. Without that, there are no guard rails going forward. Do you feel like the relation between AI and craft could be a topic of discussion at a future Consortium meeting? Best regards from the roving editorial team, Liliana Morais (Tokyo, Japan) / Kaamya Sharma (Mysore, India) / Tricia Flanagan (Newcastle, Australia)  Illustration: Yanomani Roundhouse, Brazil (South America), IN: A.G. Smith, Traditional Houses from around the World, p.44 1. Activities from the network members - Aarti Kawlra organized the [Craft as Method](https://craftasmethod.org/) workshop with the help of the CHCI Global Humanities Institute, at the University of Gaston Berger, in Saint Louis, Senegal, in November 2022; organized masterclasses on [Textiles and Dyes as Transnational, Global Knowledge](https://www.iias.asia/masterclasses/textiledyes), IIAS, at Leiden University, The Netherlands, in September 2022; and contributed with a chapter titled ‘Narrating indigo: Telling and re-telling subjectivities of craft in India’ for the new Routledge anthology [Encountering Craft - Methodological Approaches from Anthropology, Art History and Design](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003026136/encountering-craft-chandan-bose-mira-mohsini) (eds. Chandan Bose and Mira Mohsini) slated for release in May 2023.  - Antonia Behan is conducting a [virtual works-in-progress seminar series, Craft History Workshop](https://crafthistoryworkshop.com/schedule/), that aims to expand the temporal, geographic, and methodological scope of research in craft history.  - Kaamya Sharma gave a talk titled [Craft and Design: Bridging the Divide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5uqHGgTVnA&t=2356s) at the Bangalore International Centre on Feb 12, 2023 as part of the talk series Design History Now.  - Liliana Morais co-edited the first issue of Garland’s Sensorium Series dedicated to the non-visual senses, to which she also contributed with an [interview with tea practitioner Erika Kobayashi](https://garlandmag.com/article/erika-kobayashi-tea-ceremony-brazil/) from Brazil. - Jessica Hemmings edited the second edition of the Bloomsbury anthology [The Textile Reader](https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/textile-reader-9781350239845/) with 22 new contributors and an intriguing selection of works by Maria Fusco, Ursula le Guin, Faith Ringgold & T’ai Smith. 2. Suggested readings/ films - [Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition](https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo5815522.html) by Robert Pogue Harrison. University of Chicago Press, 2008. This is quite a readable overview of the Western garden narrative from Gilgamesh to Karel Čapek. Underlying it is a sense of the "biospiritual" nature of being and an underlying ethic of care. (Kevin Murray) - [Making sense through hands: design and craft practice analysed as embodied cognition](https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/24839) by Camilla Groth, Aalto University, 2017. Drawn from her PhD thesis, this is a rich account of the embodied knowledge perspective that is characteristic of the Nordic approach to craft. (Kevin Murray) - [Rethinking education – and craft](https://formkraft.dk/en/rethinking-education-and-craft/). Interview with Tim Ingold, by Heidi Laura, 19-01-2023. Imagine education without any division between crafts and academic learning. Or how about seeing craft as poetry, whether it is expressed materially, verbally or digitally? These are some of the new ways the anthropologist Tim Ingold invites us to think about education and craft. Or as he says: ‘Craft is a way of finding one’s own voice through making things together. But it’s no different with mathematics, history or geography.’ (Helle Dyrlund Severinsen) - [Ikat from Timor and its Outer Islands: Insular and Interwoven](https://www.sidestone.com/books/ikat-from-timor-and-its-outer-islands) by Peter ten Hoopen. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2022. This is Peter ten Hoopen's doctoral dissertation examining warp ikat textiles woven in East Indonesia. He did not conduct field research but examined the textiles in regard to thread types, pattern asymmetry, and symbolism of motifs. He developed interesting arguments, but I wonder what the weavers' opinions would be regarding his conclusions. (Linda McIntosh) - [Non-Things: Upheaval in the Lifeworld](https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Non+things:+Upheaval+in+the+Lifeworld-p-9781509551705) by Bung Chul Han. Polity, 2022. The digital world destabilizes us while the object world anchors us. Relationships to people and objects are being forsaken for a hyperconnected world of information. This is a short, thoughtful book on the displacement of the object in an increasingly digital order. (Laila Alhamad) - [The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism](https://www.versobooks.com/books/3989-the-future-is-degrowth), by Matthias Schmelzer, Andrea Vetter and Aaron Vansintjan. Verso, 2022. A critique of the ideology of infinite growth (including its green and technology-focused pseudo-alternatives) coming from ecological, feminist, anti-capitalist, and decolonial perspectives. Calling for a reorganization of society based on a drastic reduction in energy and resource use while advancing social justice, democracy, and solidarity, the authors propose a measure of progress based on happiness, autonomy, time prosperity, and meaningful relationships. Suggested paths for degrowth include strengthening the commons and promoting convivial and democratic technologies, such as tool-lending libraries, repair cafes, and do-it-yourself spaces. (Liliana Morais) - [Conflict, Climate and Today's Global Hunger Crisis](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5hY2FzdC5jb20vcHVibGljL3Nob3dzLzYzNTVkOTA0ZGQ1ZTBlMDAxMmRhODhkMQ==/episode/NjNlZTU0N2IyYjgzMjkwMDExYTY5MWI1). Podcast on the global hunger crisis shared by Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, CEO of Mercy Corps, may not have a straightforward relation to crafts. But she makes a solid argument for situating the craft sector in overcoming inequality for many populations in the world. (Sharon Tsang-de Lyster) - [Thumb Printed: Champaran Indigo Peasants Speak to Gandhi](https://www.amazon.in/Thumb-Printed-Edited-Works/dp/8194921074), co-edited by Shahid Aim, Tridip Suhrud and Megha Todi. Navajivan Trust and National Archives of India, 2022. Natural Indigo was grown in large plantation colonies across Bengal & Bihar and shipped to England yielding great profits for the British planters of the time. Thumb Printed is a collection of what ordinary peasants experienced, recalled, and authenticated, by affixing their thumb-impressions as a sign of veracity. This volume enables us to visualize indigo growing peasants working in flesh and blood, carting their indigo crop to factories, getting shortchanged, and beaten into submission, written from first-person narratives from India's National Archives. (LOkesh Ghai) 3. Events - [Why Runs The Abhisarika](https://garlandmag.com/loop/why-runs-the-abhisarika/). At Testing Grounds, Queen Victoria Market Melbourne, 25 March, 1-2pm AEDT. What goes on in the mind of a woman running out to meet her lover? What goes on in our brains when we run out to meet our goals? Enjoy a unique visual and oral storytelling performance with Indian dance and English spoken words, poetry about the simple neuroscience of passion. Priyanka Jain presents a unique recitation of Sanskrit mythology and neuroscience.   - [“Arte Popular”: The Creative and Critical Power of Latin Americans](https://www.minpaku.ac.jp/en/ai1ec_event/37950). Special Exhibition at Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, March 9 to May 30, 2023. Based on the museum’s collection, this exhibition of 400 items of folk art (arte popular) from South America, from northern Mexico to southern Argentina, includes both ancient and contemporary works, showcasing the histories of cultural mixing, as well as the cultural diversity and creativity of the peoples of this region. - [Tradition/Innovation: Craft and future intangible cultural heritage](https://www.westdean.org.uk/events/intangible-cultural-heritage.). In West Dean College, West Sussex, UK, Thursday, 30 March, 2023. Stephen Knott is chairing one session of an upcoming conference run with the Crafts Study Centre and the University of Creative Arts. Although the event is fully booked up, look out for digital material (recordings, proceedings) that can be accessed from the webpage in the aftermath of the conference. - [Clouds, Power and Ornament – Roving Central Asia](https://www.mill6chat.org/event/clouds-power-and-ornament-roving-central-asia/) at CHAT, Hong Kong, until 21 May 2023. This exhibition takes textiles and crafts as the starting point for an in-depth exploration of this vast interconnected territory with its multi-layered politics, societies and cultures.  - [India in Fashion. Exhibition](https://nmacc.com/costume-arts/india-in-fashion). At Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, April 3 to June 4, 2023. ‘India in Fashion’ explores the layered impact that traditional Indian dress, textiles and craft have had on the international fashion sensibility since the 18th century. 4. Opportunities for the network - Open PhD positions at HDK-Valand (an academic space with a strong focus on craft), University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Here’s where you can find more [information & online application workshop](https://jessicahemmings.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=697932c70e7eb5db984079b73&id=90a2cddfe5&e=c1d306e97e) on March 28 from 18.00-19.30 CET. Here are the [application guidelines](https://jessicahemmings.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=697932c70e7eb5db984079b73&id=7387969998&e=c1d306e97e), deadline for applications: May 2. - The fifth PARSE biennial research conference themed [Powers of Love: Enchantment to Disaffection](https://parsejournal.com/opencall/powers-of-love-enchantment-to-disaffection/) organized by the Faculty of Fine, Applied & Performing Arts, University of Gothenburg is taking place between 15-17 November 2023. The call for contributions is open with a deadline of 17 April 2023.  - An opportunity to [join a woolsupply chain at KAL as an intern](https://www.wearekal.com/pages/jobs), in Ladakh, India. KAL sources raw materials directly from nomads in Ladakh, and goes through wool processing to the end products. Internship 1 from mid/end June to mid of August 2023; internship 2 from mid-August to the beginning of October 2023. Applications are due on 10 April 2023. Look out for news of our next Consortium Meeting in April.