>[!NOTE]+ Meta Date:: 2021-05-19 Tags:: #warp/talk WeftLinks:: [[Reinventing the Wheel]] [[Social value of craft]] Question:: [[Question - What is the role of the handmade in an industrial society]] Value of Craft:: [[Social value of craft]] ___ Summary:: During the pandemic, sanitation focused on keeping people apart. The handmade production of masks helps counter the alienating impact of lockdowns. This talk was conducted in partnership with the [[Journal of Modern Craft]] ### Introduction This discussion continues to consider the encounter of craft and industry, in particular the way handmade production stepped up to the challenge of masking up a nation. [[Glenn Adamson]]'s recent history of craft in the USA concludes by remarking on the way a nation turned to craft during lockdown, to quote "as if by ancient instinct". What we see panning out today is a fateful encounter between the personal realm of the handmade and the increasingly abstract industrial regimes of sanitation. It resonates with the pressure on school craft education from occupational health and safety. **Caroline Kipp**, whose series of talks inspired the issue of JMC, is Curator of Contemporary Art at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum **Alison Matthews David** is the Graduate Program Director for Ryerson University’s MA Fashion program. She is the author of Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present (Bloomsbury), and Killer Style: How Fashion Has Injured, Maimed and Murdered Through History (Owlkids). **Kate Kretz** is a visual artist, trained as a painter. She holds a BFA from State University of New York at Binghamton, and an MFA from the University of Georgia. [[Maegen Black]] is the Director of the Canadian Crafts Federation and North American President for the World Crafts Council. [[Anna Battista]] publishes one of the most prodigious craft platforms around, Irenebrination, looking at the world through a textile and fashion lens. Professor **Andrew Groves** is the founder and director of the Westminster Menswear Archive, whose curator **Danielle Specher** will be joining us. ### Summary It's difficult to summarise such a rich and intensive series of presentations. It is worth watching the video carefully for this. But there did seem to be a general point that emerged. This discussion framed the art and craft responses to mask production during the pandemic in broader historical and political contexts. One key issue was the value of masks beyond that of protection. There were examples of older masks that had sacred meaning and marked social class. During the pandemic, however, masks were more often worn as expressions of solidarity. Thus they became prominent vehicles for messaging about causes, particularly related to social justice. There were also ways in which it offered a new canvas for existing crafts, particularly textile techniques such as beading. While this is happening there is tension with the forces that seek to separate individuals, including industrial santitation regimes and the introduction of elite brands. There is potential to think that the mask making response to the pandemic has forged a new forum for craft as the redoubt for the social, which will become only more necessary with the evolution of algorythms, automation and surveillance. <div style="display: block; position: relative; width: 100%; height: 0px; --aspect-ratio:9/16; padding-bottom: calc(var(--aspect-ratio) * 100%);"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.be/embed/bqXXJAs1dp0" allow="fullscreen" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; height: 100%; width: 100%;"></iframe></div> #### Caroline Kipp ![[imgs_app_Wheel_5cJZJ014Rn.pdf]] #### Farieda Nazeer ![[imgs_app_Wheel_dX7Ow5wZRF.pdf]] #### Andrew Groves and Danielle Specher ![[imgs_app_Wheel_8BvX0YJ5xj.pdf]]