Thursday 31 March 2011

Transformative Knits



Day Four: Where are they now? Whatever happened to your _____?

In last year's Knitting & Crochet Blog Week, I wrote about how my creations ended up in the UK DIY exhibition.

I also briefly mentioned Marianne Jorgensen's pink tank cosy which was featured as part of the Craftivism section in the exhibition.

I'm happy to say I contributed a knitted pink square which went into that very same tank cosy! I know it sounds small and insignificant, but together with others who contributed, I like to think the overall result was thought-provoking and memorable. I made a short film clip of the video installation at the exhibition (excuse the awful sound quality):



Over 4,000 knitted and crocheted 15 x 15 cm squares from crafty types all over the world went into making the cosy for a combat tank which was used in WWII. The basis for this installation was a form of protest against Denmark's (also the UK & USA's) involvement with the war in Iraq.

The tank, complete with pink cosy and a pom-pom (!) hanging off the end of the cannon, was situated outside the Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center in Copenhagen in April 2006. As Marianne says, "When [the tank] is covered in pink, it becomes completely unarmed and it loses it's authority. Pink becomes a contrast in both material and color when combined with the tank."

Click to find out more about: Craftivism (definition) | Marianne Jorgensen | The UK DIY movement!

2 comments:

CrochetBlogger said...

What a really cool project to reminisce on!

Stefanie said...

That was neat to participate in!