Wintersemester 2009/10,

Transformation of Nature

All organisms, and eventually all objects, follow an inalterable cycle of life: they come into being, exist and cease to be. The- reby, the process of dissolution or decomposition is subject to certain regularities, just as the emergence of life and the pro- cess of growth. This morbid aspect of nature is as important for its proper working as its vital aspect.

The manifestations of transience and their transposition into textile material constitute the main theme of this project. it is an attempt to grasp the aesthetics, but also the reality of this aspect of life, not only as a mere representation, but rendered visible in a direct way.

The processes of dissolution are manifested in an infinitely broad spectrum of phenomena and traces; according to each state, tiny signs, overall changes or complete disintegration can be ob- served. interior structures get externalized; colour, surface and qualities of materials reflect the transformation in its progress. in a series of experiments, these proceedings were observed in an exemplary manner, thus offering, in extracts, a visual vocabulary of decay.

The reflection on how to transpose a natural process of disso- lution into a fabric led to a direct integration of emerging rust into a textile. Already before i had set up series of experiments, in which an iron surface got treated with different oxidizing substances, developing a scale of rust colour shades. in my exa- minations, it turned out that organic material always leads to a dark shade of brown during its last state of decay. A contraction process generally accompanies this transformation.

Structural lines formed by integration of iron fiber filings were sewn using woollen thread into cloth referencing remaining structures of a semi-dissolved rose petal. When being washed and worn (exposure to sweat), the process of decay gets activated in the textile. The iron rusts, its lines become apparent, the texti- le changes colour. At the same time the wool threads contract when being washed at a higher temperature, thus causing shrinking of specific parts of the textile.

This type of procedure creates a textile that renders its own de- cay visible through the manifestation of characteristic symptoms. Through the artificial initiation of a natural aging process, the work gains a particular aesthetic. in addition to its immediate visual appearance it intends to transport the process of time expiring, embodied in the material itself.

ProjektkategorieSemesterprojekt