[Hand-made rope, cement, steel pipe, found objects]

Scaffolding is a distillation of textile and architecture down to their basic elements, and a deconstruction of the acts of weaving and building. Architectural scaffolds are reminiscent of the loom — a structure necessary to the construction of a weaving that is removed once a textile is finished. In this installation, the repeated motif of rope held in tension between two bars is an allusion to simple looms, at a bigger, more playful scale.

The building blocks — colourful hand-made rope, cement bricks, steel pipe sculptures, and artifacts from construction sites — are gathered in advance and brought to the space of installation. The rope loops around ceiling beams, columns, electrical lines, light tracks, and pipes, creating a composition of pre-existing and constructed elements. Scaffolding highlights and depends on the functional components of architecture that one is often asked to ignore, especially in the art gallery. Varying dependent on space, Scaffolding creates an environment where scale, play, and functionality are skewed.

Cement, steel, and rope have associations of durability, labour, and masculinity. But this rope has been rendered in pastel colours and soft materials, bringing it back within to the socially constructed feminine while still retaining its strength and structural capabilities. Among the installation’s components are functional frame looms, installed in ways that negate their functionality. Other pieces are non-functional but appear to be so, mimicking machine aesthetics and weaving diagrams. Rope and steel pipe — pliable linear materials — draw links between the aesthetics and functionalities of architecture and textiles. In Scaffolding, both exert equal forces to hold the pieces and the installation together.

Photographs by Tereza Tacic.

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