Fashion always has been a big thing in the history of mankind but the conditions for the workers have been and still are pretty questionable: Sweat, blood, dust, noise, chemicals, mechanical power and lots more of raw materials are processed in huge numbers.
An abandoned building called »Basilika« is one of the last remaining, not yet affected by the gentrification, contemporary witnesses of a time when Augsburg was a big player in the textile industry and it is placed vis-a-vis the »tim«.
In the context of an artist intervention for the fifth anniversary of the museum we created an audiovisual installation for this building.
The performance show takes about 10 minutes and is divided into two very opposed parts:
The first part interpretes aspects of the production process, is black and white and pretty noisy. It is controlled in realtime by an original punch card that normally is used to weave a towel with the lettering »Made in Augsburg« on a loom. Therefore we created an unique punch card reading machine in DIY manner by using lots of sensors, a microcontroller and 3D-printed parts.
The second part is colorful, enjoyable and with a very contemporary style even though the footage are patterns of cloth from 1806 to 1988 which we digitalized for the project.
For the sounddesign we use samples of original weaving machines and analog synthesizers.
The artwork tries to illustrate the schizophrenia of the industry that is still pervasive although far away for most of us.
Created for The State Textile and Industry Museum »tim« in Augsburg
