Soft Power - Hatje Cantz

A bilingual table of contents from a book, displayed across two pages against a pale pink background. The left page, titled INHALT, lists the chapters in German with their page numbers. The right page, titled CONTENTS, lists the corresponding chapters in English with different page numbers. Chapter titles include Soft Power, Invisible Hands, and Ancestral Threads.

A two-page spread from a publication on a solid teal background. The words SOFT POWER are written in a large, white, sans-serif font at the top. Below the title, the text is arranged in two columns, with German on the left and English on the right, describing an exhibition about the cultural and political power of textiles. Page numbers 12 and 13 are visible at the bottom.

A two-page spread from an art book. The left page contains text about the artwork. The right page shows the artwork, Fragmentize / Fragmentieren by Edith Dekyndt. It is a rectangular piece draped in light blue velvet, hung against a white wall. The center of the velvet has a geometric pattern of fine, incised lines. The fabric is loosely draped, revealing an off-white fabric layer underneath on the right side.

A two-page spread from an art catalog for artist Maria Lai. The left page, numbered 24, features a photo of a textile art book, open to show blue-dyed pages with lines of black thread that mimic writing. The right page, 25, shows a rectangular textile piece composed of stitched horizontal strips of fabric in red, blue, black, and gold, with frayed edges and loose threads.

A two-page book spread. The left page contains descriptive text in German and English. The right page displays a grid of nine black-and-white photos showing close-ups of workers' hands operating looms and textile machinery.

A horizontal textile artwork embroidered in red thread on white linen in the style of traditional folk art. It depicts a protest scene with stylized, pixel-like figures. Crowds of protestors, some with flags, run towards formations of what appear to be riot police and a large police van. An arrest is shown in the lower right.

An art gallery installation by Hamid Zénati featuring numerous vibrantly colored, painted textiles hanging from the ceiling. The fabrics, displaying a mix of abstract and geometric patterns, create a dense, layered display in a bright room with light wood floors and several ornate rugs in the background.

A front view of Maria Lai's mixed-media artwork, Untitled, from 2009. The piece is an abstract composition within a black shadow box lined with deep red fabric. Black geometric forms, including a large trapezoid wrapped in thread and a circular disc, are connected by a dense, chaotic web of taut white and black twine that stretches across the entire frame.

A page from an art publication showing a rectangular textile artwork by Wilder Alison. The piece is a grid of panels with a geometric pattern of triangles. Vibrant colors like magenta, purple, green, and blue bleed softly into the cream-colored wool, creating a watercolor-like effect. The artwork is mounted on a plain white wall.

A two-page magazine spread. On the left is a black and white 1973 photograph showing two women at an outdoor public demonstration of weaving. They are looking down at a small loom on a table, with a spinning wheel and a basket nearby. The right-hand page features the title in large type, When a Hobby Becomes More, in both German and English, for an article about The Circle for Artistic Textile Design Potsdam.

A two-page spread showing two quilts hanging on white walls. The quilt on the left has a herringbone pattern primarily in shades of green with pops of bright colors. The quilt on the right has a grid of sixteen pink squares with blue sashing, each square containing a red and black pinwheel star design.

An exhibition view in a modern gallery with white walls and a wood floor, showing three large silkscreen prints on fabric by Philipp Gufler hanging from the ceiling. From left to right: a sheer purple banner, a pink banner with a portrait of a person, and a yellow banner with a map of Europe. Text describing the art is on the far left wall.

Soft Power

€ 38.00

VAT included. Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout

Author: Paola Malavassi, Daniel Milnes , Sarah Wassermann

July 2024, 112 Pages

Paperback

226mm x 285mm

ISBN: 978-3-7757-5811-6

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de

According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

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Textile art and political power

Soft Power celebrates the ability of textiles to store and communicate a multiplicity of (hi)stories that act as a disruptive force against dominant social and cultural narratives. The political entanglements inherent to the medium demonstrate the power of textile art to move people, things, stories, and ideas in and out of visibility. Soft Power does not focus solely on textiles as hand-crafted or industrially-fabricated objects, but understands them as being a part of systems. This includes the webs of production and trade that continue to connect textiles and people across the globe as well as the histories, cartographies, cosmologies and rituals that unfold around fabrics.

With works by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Caroline Achaintre, El Anatsui, Leonor Antunes, Rufina Bazlova, Edith Dekyndt, Gee's Bend Quiltmakers, William Kentridge, Joanna Louca, Rosemary Mayer, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Sandra Mujinga, Otobong Nkanga, Willem de Rooij, Gabriele Stötzer, Sung Tieu, Rosemarie Trockel, Johanna Unzueta, Hamid Zénati a.o.

EXHIBITION
DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam
March 16-August 11, 2024