Stickstoff

Stickstoff was a participatory project, which explored the theme of eating together using textile as medium. It was done during spring-summer 2019 in collaboration with Andrea Milde. At the time both Andrea and I lived in Lichtenberg, which is situated in the Eastern side of Berlin. Over several months we visited different locations in our neighbourhood and invited people to embroider a giant tablecloth with us, reflecting upon the theme of shared food through needlework. The project was funded by Bezirkskulturfonds Lichtenberg and supported by Museum Kesselhaus Herzberge.

At the start of the project we were happy to receive recycled table cloths from a local textile company, GREIF Mietwäsche. We selected one giant cloth to be the basis of the artwork and cut also smaller pieces for motifs, which could be later attached on the main canvas. Our journey in the neighbourhood began at the Egon-Erwin-Kisch library, followed by a community dinner at the local theatre and a farmers' market at Stadtfarm. While some people took the time to sit down and embroider with us, some stayed for a short moment to share their thoughts. Sayings related to food, local dishes and personal memories were addressed frequently. To record all the stories in the stitches, we continued embroidering at home and started to form bigger stories from the single motifs.

Week by week the selection of motifs on the tablecloth grew, as people of different ages joined the project. We brought the giant cloth to further neighbourhood events and public places, sharing it also with friends and family. The theme of eating together seemed easily relatable. The only issue that we encountered was an occasional embroidery trauma, especially in the older generation, who had to do precise needlework at school. For the younger generation stitching seemed more like drawing, free of rules.

Altogether almost 50 people participated in embroidering the tablecloth. In September 2019 the embroidered piece and the related, collected stories were shown in an exhibition at the local Museum Kesselhaus Herzberge. After the exhibition Andrea has still continued to embroider some new motifs on the tablecloth and I hope it continues to live with her in Spain, where she has been spending time recently.

See also:

• Photo album of Stickstoff