From January–June 2022, the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College presents Radical Fiber: Threads Connecting Art and Science. A centerpiece of the show will be the Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef, an effort currently under construction by crafters across northern NY state and beyond. Crochet Coral Reef creators Christine Wertheim and Margaret Wertheimand the Institute For Figuring are delighted to participate in this ground-breaking entanglement of crafting and science.
As the Tang curators describe their show: “For centuries, fiber art practice has influenced practical, theoretical, and pedagogical areas of the sciences as diverse as modern computing and digital technologies, mathematical theories, neuroscience, psychology, biology, environmental science, and more. Through contemporary art by a diverse group of intergenerational artists working in weaving, quilting, needlework, crochet, knitting, dyeing, and other fiber-based practices Radical Fiber: Threads Connecting Art and Science demonstrates how fiber practice has influenced mathematics, science, and technology. The exhibition foregrounds each work as at once fine art, process-driven craft, and scientific tool, complicating existing frameworks across fields.”
Radical Fiber: Threads Connecting Art and Science is curated by Tang Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara in consultation with Skidmore faculty Mark Huibregtse, Rachel Roe-Dale, and Becky Trousil from Mathematics & Statistics; Sara Lagalwar from Neuroscience; Elaine Larsen from Biology; Aarathi Prasad from Computer Science; and Sang-Wook Lee from Art.
Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef – announcement card
Image courtesy Tang Teaching Museum
As the Tang curators describe their show: “For centuries, fiber art practice has influenced practical, theoretical, and pedagogical areas of the sciences as diverse as modern computing and digital technologies, mathematical theories, neuroscience, psychology, biology, environmental science, and more. Through contemporary art by a diverse group of intergenerational artists working in weaving, quilting, needlework, crochet, knitting, dyeing, and other fiber-based practices Radical Fiber: Threads Connecting Art and Science demonstrates how fiber practice has influenced mathematics, science, and technology. The exhibition foregrounds each work as at once fine art, process-driven craft, and scientific tool, complicating existing frameworks across fields.”
Radical Fiber: Threads Connecting Art and Science is curated by Tang Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara in consultation with Skidmore faculty Mark Huibregtse, Rachel Roe-Dale, and Becky Trousil from Mathematics & Statistics; Sara Lagalwar from Neuroscience; Elaine Larsen from Biology; Aarathi Prasad from Computer Science; and Sang-Wook Lee from Art.
Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef – announcement card
Image courtesy Tang Teaching Museum