Event | Artistic Research Knitting Club (ARKC)

Event | Artistic Research Knitting Club (ARKC)
Dates: 24 October, 21 November, 19 December (2022), 16 January, 13 February, 17 April, 15 May (2023)
Time: 16:00-20:00
Location: University of Amsterdam (Room TBA)
Contact: liza.prins@rietveldacademie.nl & marta.pagliucapelacani@hotmail.it
Credits: 2 or 3 ECTS (Details below)

The Artistic Research Knitting Club is a joint collaborative initiative by Marta Pagliuca Pelacani and Liza Prins. The purpose of ARKC is to join the many threads that unite Amsterdam’s artistic research community, fostering a space of informal discussion and knowledgeable craft: something like a knitting club. Sitting together and learning with and from one another are important fundamentals of ARKC. What we propose is a broad understanding of this way of coming together, one that spans across the many crafts comprising artistic research practices: ARKC is open to everyone. Come with your knitting, your punch ‘n needle or latest crochet project, take your loom, embroidery and stretch routine. We welcome lines of code, a piece of rope, gellak work, stripped bark or an oil carrier (bag). Tell us of SGI tales, of archives and noise! 

ARKC welcomes beginners of all kinds, as well as passive, saltuary and one-off members. We are happy to supply the knowledge and materials to help you get started with a craft we master (like knitting, mending or crochet), or learn from you how to do things in which we are interested (like weaving, basketry and spinning). 

Resuming the monthly-held ARKC sessions, we are excited to share with you the dates of the upcoming sessions for this 2022-2023 academic year, as well as a provisional programme of themes and guest lecturers.*

Programme

Sessions take place on the third Monday of the month, from 16.00 to 20.00. The programme consists of a total of 8 sessions. The location is yet to be announced. 

To keep tuned, as well as receive materials and session reminders, please join the ARKC mailing list by getting in touch with us: liza.prins@gmaill.com / marta.pagliucapelacani@hotmail.it. 

• Chapter 1: soft geometries
• Chapter 2: (non)solitary spinning
• Chapter 3: songs of flax
• Chapter 4: textile theft

The structure of ARKC sessions is as follows:

Meetings take place across the span of four hours: one hour for talking and ‘landing’, one hour for presentations and two hours for crafting in discussion. 

By taking part, you join a circle that seeks to engage in multi-directional transfers of knowledge by learning together, from each other and about anything that lends itself. to make this as broad a scope as possible, we will ask the help of the club members. 

So come to learn, to teach or just to do. Each session will entail some assigned readings. These are readings you can do, or not. These sessions always begin with short summaries that might interest you in taking a further look later, taking the readings home after the session. Past readings have included the work of: Lucy Lippard, Ursula K. LeGuin, bell hooks, Cecilia Vicuña, Elizabeth Parker, Lisa Robertson, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Christine Wertheim and many others. 

*due to availability, the programme and list of speakers may be subject to change. The thematic structure however, will remain unvaried throughout the year, and will follow as closely as possible the Chapter themes given in this outline. 

Credit Requirements

Actively participating in ARKC can result in either 2 or 3 ECTS. In order to obtain 2 ECTS, members are required to attend all eight sessions of ARKC and do the assigned readings for each session. The readings will be discussed during ARKC and students wishing to receive credits are encouraged to participate.

If wishing to obtain a further 1 ECTS, students may submit a short reflection of minimum 500 words within two weeks of each ARKC session. The review should include: a comparative review of the readings detailing their most salient concepts and any interesting correspondences they show with one another, a brief discussion of the readings in relation to the guest lecturer’s presentation and/or practice, and a comment about how the readings, the discussion or the experience of this specific session of ARKC has impacted their own research or practice. Credits will only be awarded upon condition of having submitted all eight reflections by June 2023.