The Loom Project Information
http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/jonba/loom/
The Loom: (2005) from Text to Textile took place at the Brighton Fringe Basement and online in 2005. It was funded by Networked Bodies and ACE and the textile was developed in collaboration with ASF Weave (The Ann Sutton Foundation) and Jon Bird of the University of Sussex (Cognitive and Biological Sciences Dept).
Over four days, the large-scale installation became a space for interaction and remembrance and was dependent on audience input for its growth. It was linked to the simultaneous weaving of the textile at ASF Weave 30 miles away.
Textual information relating to the birth and death of two loved ones (names, dates, locations) was processed through a specially written system and used to weave a twenty metre textile work using cream silk noil, gold lurex and organza ribbons.
The accumulative interchange of personal information in this way directly references the communal game of Moshaereh - verbally trading poetry - that was so prevalent in the Middle East prior to the advent of media culture . The weaving process was simultaneously streamed online via the Loom website, which participants used to contact and add to the Loom pattern.
500 people experienced the installation and submitted information, and although there was room for a maximum of 300 to add to the pattern, there was a total visitor count online of 2000.
Click here to watch the pilot film
