The purpose of the project Textile now! was to maintain the vivacity of the contemporary textile design and to expand people’s comprehension about the possible applications of textile in Slovenia.
We settled an empty ground floor venue with street entrance in the center of Ljubljana in October and convert it into a studio – Temporary Open Studio. The aim was to inform, inspire, educate and co-create with the audience. In a series of participatory educational events the Oloop design team guided the participants through various ways in which textile can be expressed. There was a strong focus on its irreplaceable function – that of shielding, connecting, and softening objects, as well as venues.
The project Textile now! helped to maintain the genuine contact with textile materials and encourage, educate, as well as inspire creative (young) people to discover a new the possibilities that textile offers. We informed them about the consequences of textile practices disappearing in Slovenian and European cultures, educational system and the economy via an exhibition in progress, educational value of the program (workshops, participatory events), and a lecture on textile creations. We also proposed a new ways of creating and discovering textile, through which people can reestablish the literal and metaphorical bonds between body and fiber, object and textile, community and textile production.
The project was realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and City of Ljubljana.
Fotografija: Jarni Kristjan in Oloop
