unsettle barriers

Is there a deep divide between those working with textiles  (studio practice) and those studying textiles ( art history and visual culture)?

Until recently the use of craft and fibres in art practice was tantamount to positioning oneself firmly outside of the mainstream art world and at the bottom of a gendered art/craft hierarchy. If  “Craft has become the new cool” as noted by Janis Jefferies in  a 2010 survey of textile in contemporary arts, what are the implications of this?

Artists have played an essential role in the development of high-tech, smart and e-textiles, working at the interface of textiles and technology to develop medical, military and artistic applications.    The fast pace of change brings challenges, not least to how to conceptually and practically understand the context in which textiles and interdisciplinary textile arts are made, distributed and interpreted. 

What questions are not being asked?