NYAB Event - Francesca Capone “Writing in Threads”

Francesca Capone “Writing in Threads”

99¢ Plus

This event has ended.

Featuring writing by Mairéad Byrne, Maria Damon, Ted Dodson, Andrew Durbin, Ben Fama, Ian Hatcher, Lucy Ives, Kevin Killian, Frances Kruk, Mariette Lamson, Sophia Le Fraga, Francesca Lisette, Kristen Mueller, Kit Schluter, and Cole Swensen

99¢ Plus Gallery presents Writing in Threads, an exhibition of writing and textiles by Francesca Capone. In Writing in Threads, Francesca Capone has invited fifteen writers to respond to her woven work. The weavings will be on exhibition with these corresponding writings, as well as e-mail threads where these woven-to-written collaborations were realized. Here, writing in threads takes on meaning beyond metaphor. Weaving is recognized as an alternative analog equivalent to digital writing forms. Notions of communication that might occur between a stitching circle and a community of writers are collapsed as epistolary relationships are formed that intermingle cloth and word.

Writing in “threads” is the most contemporary epistolary practice. Perhaps the thread is simply a metaphor for the passing back and forth of information, and the through-line that connects this sequence of gestures. Though traces of writing in threads are embedded in the English language (specifically with the word text, derived from textus in Latin meaning cloth) contemporary echoes of fiber-based languages and textile inscriptions are sparse in our transition into digital forms, save for the thread. As paperless culture becomes ubiquitous, the thread has taken hold in numerous platforms. Gmail organizes e-mails into threads, and so do most cell phone text messaging softwares. We compile threads of instant messages, twitter feeds, Facebook messages, and so on. The thread, as a digital messaging structure, is inclusive and multi-vocal while also maintaining linearity through time and content. Makers of skeuomorphic terminology and information architecture have created a verbal and visual framework that takes cues from a variety of tools and processes in the physical world. Interface design aspects/actions involved with digital reading and writing such as scrolling, e-mailing, posting, documents, folders, eBooks, stickies, notes, etc., adopt a cross section of physical objects and processes that are primarily related to the material and print culture that preceded the internet. The thread, however, references textile traditions of storytelling and record keeping that are primarily overlooked in conventional representations of the history of writing, despite their importance having preceded traditional writing forms for thousands of years. Considering this context, Writing in Threads addresses a gap that exists between our cultural embrace of the thread and the historical fiber-based languages that it inherently references.