A Knitting Performance

Knitting Nation

Have you ever been to a knitting performance?  Well, I hadn't until I took in  Liz Collins' Knitting Nation  Phase 8 - Under Construction at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston during a day long performance on November 30th.  The ICA's current exhibition  is Dance/Draw (thru 1/16/12) and Knitting Nation's presentation engaged the theme through eight knitting machines stationed at various levels of scaffolding and the lines of finished knitting draped among its framework and pooled onto the floor.  

Knitting Nation is part ongoing collaborative performance and part site-specific art installation project and you can get a lot more information about the project over at the web site of Liz Collins

As a passionate knitter, crafter and artist I was intrigued and inspired by all of this and took video to capture the noise and movement of the knitters.   At the beginning of the video you see Liz Collins and a volunteer knitter working to repair one of the machines that had gone down from the constant usage.  This was a knitting project and performance that was very different and interesting.