Intertwined

Within 8 sessions of organized lectures, mentored and practical work, participants deconstructed the concept of knitting as a craft, as communal practice, as a way for making materials and as a system for (inter)connecting.

Knitting was understood as a process that demands at least 3 base elements for the preset goal to be achieved – one element is only a sting, two are a knot and three make an INTERTWINED system.

The initial intentional selection of diverse backgrounds of the participants created a room for deliberating the necessity of fostering a new type of cultural mediator as a craftsperson of the contemporary – a maker who can speculate about the future, but still keep the main principle of craft’s development: to provide solutions to the actual needs and issues of the surroundings, and not to create them.

Group I

Craft / object / process /collection

Participants: Doroteja Jonov, Marija Mladenović, Jovana Stojković, Marta Glavčić, Ema Spasojević, Marko Gajić

Group I approached knitting as heritage, as a process and as intergenerational connecting. Through the passing of knowledge, a dual repetitiveness is achieved – one of the patterns (techniques) and one of the knowledge (heritage). The term is understood conditionally – creators of objects play with repetition and intertwining of forms, materials, and meanings. Knitting is seen as a point of encounter and connecting, as a knot of a community and household – as a symbolic category that far overpasses the techniques and process of making.

Key words: Hug / Intertwining / Knot / Encounter / Narrative / Entangled / Hands / Manual / Manufacture / Team member / Gratitude / Partner / Symbol / text / Mould / Pattern

Result
6 prototypes of the „bottomless pot“ – an object for holding small belongings of all community members in a shared space – household, work space, classroom

Materials
repurposed wood, textile, leather, paper

Group II

Node / Knot / Surface / Line / Net / Intertwining / System

Participants: Zorana Rebrenović, Uroš Antić, Anđela Hauk, Lenka Petrović, Miljana Milojković, Sofija Buzadžić

Node (srp. čvor) is more than a knot, it is the intersection of lines where the new system (the net) embarks. Node is simultaneously the main leaning point and the necessary minimal particle of a system that cannot exist alone in isolation. It demands a repetition and multiplication. When seen from above the multiplied elements create a line, a thread that is yet to be knitted.

In the intertwining the exhibition system (k)nit node is created.

Materials
Repurposed wooden materials

Today knitting is a slowly disappearing craft, largely replaced by new materials and technologies in mass production. But its meaning is much larger than object making. It is a practice of community, of intergenerational knowledge transfer and of repetitive meditation. Within the workshop knitting is understood as an act of intertwining, of connecting and strengthening by using different materials, forms, and systems.

In the period of five weeks participants will be guided along the process of conceptualizing and producing an object – from idea to craftsmanship. All based on the main principles of knitting.

Participants
12 students (scenography, product design, production, art history)

Dramaturgy

The plot
Through acquainting the participants with the principles and rules of knitting, functional knowledge of the craft is provided and is to be upgraded. The goal is to initiate immediate cooperation by building a joint installation and conceptual models that give a practical insight into all the aspects of the knitting process, primarily of working in a community.

The loop
Through applying the principles of knitting, participants will develop new products. Used materials are not limited, but connecting system is – it needs to be intertwined.

The untangle
Planed results are: detailed documentation of the working process, prototypes of new products based on intertwining a minimum of two different crafts (knitting as a mandatory expression and open-end crafts based on selected material).

Facilitators and mentors

Andrija Dinulović (Turbina) is a producer, holding a BA in management and production of theater, radio and culture from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade and MA in Scene architecture and design from Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad. He is a cofounder of production studio Turbina focusing on conceptualization, technical development and realization of spaces and spatial exhibits for performing and visual arts. He is a docent at the Department for Scene Design FTS and an active participant in the programs of the Centre for scene design, architecture and technology (Scen). Andrija participated in more than 40 projects in Serbia, Slovenia, Chech Republic, France, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. Through his work at Turbina, among other projects, he was part of producing the appearance of Republic of Serbia at the Biennial of Architecture in Venice and the Festival of Light Installations – iLigiht Singapure.

Zoja Erdeljan (Turbina) is a scene designer, holding a BA and MA from the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, with a focus on scene design. In her work, she is equally engaged in performing and visual arts, working as a scenographer in theaters in Belgrade, Subotica, Užice and Šabac. Alongside her art-based engagements she was an associate of Profakustika (Beograd) on scene design projects. She is a doctoral student and a junior research assistant at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad focusing on theory of scene design, architecture of scene events and graphic design. Zoja is an active member and participant in the activities of the Centre for scene design, architecture and technilogy (Scen)– Oistat Centre for Serbia, the most significant of which are the Biennale of Scene Design and Serbia’s performance at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in 2023, where she had the role of project coordinator.

Janko Dimitrijević (Turbina) is a producer, holding a BA in management and production of theater, radio and culture from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade from and MA in scene architecture and design from the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad. He is a doctoral student at the same faculty. Between 2014 and 2018 he was an executive producer at Hartefact Foundation in Belgrade. He participated at the Prague Quadrennial of Stage Design and Stage Space in 2015 and 2019. Janko is one of cofounders of production studio Turbina, where as an executive producer he took part in the 17. International exhibition of architecture in Venice, within the project 8th kilometer.

Marija Kojić (FCA) is an interior and furniture designer, holding a BA in interior architecture from Faculty of Philology and Arts, University of Kragujevac and MA in interior and furniture design from Faculty of Applied Arts, University of Belgrade. She is a doctoral student at the Department for Scene Design at FTS in Novi Sad. Marija is active in various fields of creative industry. She worked on redesigning the visual identity of the Tara Nacional Park and explored working with set design while working on the film “My Morning Laughter“ by Marko Đorđević. She was nominated in the Best Designer category at the Belgrade Furniture Fair in 2018 and won the MicroMacro Award at the sixth international exhibition ON ARCHITECTURE: New Materials and Design in Architecture and Art the same year. Currently she works as a lecturer at the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade, Department for Interior Design.