Kalopsiacollective / What Is Textiles?/ launch night 19:00-21:00 @ 01.02.2014 Ocean Terminal Leith Edinburgh/ Scotland
“Textiles came to mean more to me than the initial, functional purpose that I had first understood it to signify. Textiles have become an important tool and an integral part of expression.” – Kate Bell
Launch night of Kalopsia Collectives latest exhibition and Gallery space Saturday 1st February, 19.00 – 21.00, at Ocean Terminal, Leith (Ground floor).
The exhibition ‘What Is Textiles?’ examines definitions of contemporary textiles from over 40 local and international artists.
“Textiles came to mean more to me than the initial, functional purpose that I had first understood it to signify. Textiles have become an important tool and an integral part of expression.” – Kate Bell
Launch night of Kalopsia Collectives latest exhibition and Gallery space Saturday 1st February, 19.00 – 21.00, at Ocean Terminal, Leith (Ground floor).
The exhibition ‘What Is Textiles?’ examines definitions of contemporary textiles from over 40 local and international artists.
Using mediums such as system design, video installations, traditional weaving, performance art and photography, Kalopsia showcases it’s ethos of exploring the boundaries of textiles, both conceptually and as a craft.
Kalopsia works extensively to raise the value of textiles as a contemporary art practice. The organisation also challenges the conceptions of what textiles can be and opens up the debate on how the medium can be used as a contemporary art practice now and in the future.
Kalopsia thus poses the question about what textiles is and uses a unique and different approach to the subject than the traditional one. Incorporated in Kalopsia’s work with textiles are for example system design, video installations, traditional weaving, performance art and photography. By approaching textiles in a variety of ways, Kalopsia seeks to explore the boundaries of the medium, both conceptually and as a craft. Kalopsia also believes that textiles holds great value when working with community art due to the communal history of the medium itself. Exploring textiles within community art projects can alter people’s perception of what textiles is and also raise the self-esteem and -awareness in the participants.
Kalopsia strives to produce and enable access to high quality contemporary art that is grounded in contemporary textiles. The thought of what these two mediums could be is liberal and thus a wide range of contemporary art practice can be included in the organisation’s projects. It is important to Kalopsia that contemporary art should be accessible to an extended audience and therefore the organisation’s aim is to work continuously with creative workshops, community based art and enable people from different backgrounds to exhibit as long as the art works submitted are of high quality and standard.
Kalopsia does not believe in an elitist and closed up art scene and therefore encourages cross breeding in between disciplines. The organisation supports the growth of artists of all levels, experience and backgrounds and strives to develop cultural understanding and social engagements within the subject. In the UK at the moment, there is a vast amount of innovative contemporary textiles art being produced and one of Kalopsia’s aims is to bring that work to the public.
What is Textiles? will run from the 2 – 15th February in its Ocean Terminal location, 10am – 6pm with free admission.
For more info
visit: www.kalopsia.co.uk, @KalopsiaC and facebook.com/KalopsiaCollective
http://www.randomthingstodoinedinburgh.co.uk/what-is-textiles-an-exhibition-by-kalopsia-collective/