My thesis aims to explore and present textiles as a sculptural material in contemporary art. I briefly introduce thread as the building block and consequently a material similar to textile, which is also used as an independent material in sculpture. Like textiles, thread in sculpture appears and becomes widely recognised relatively late. It is frequently used by women, as it is mostly characterised as women's material due to the sewing tradition, which is a predominantly female domain. To illustrate, I outline the concept of contemporary art, a period of art history in which textile appears for the first time as a part of a sculpture. I refer to contemporary art, in which fabric as material in sculpture begins to experience its heyday. I present certain avandgarde movements and tendencies that played a major role in this regard. The thesis attempts to capture and present all the main uses of textiles in sculpture, while at the same time presenting those who, in my opinion, are prominent artists using one or more of these methods in their work and artistic expression. The thesis is focused on Ernesto Neto, a contemporary sculptor, and his interactive installations that are often made of translucent nylon. I was strongly impressed by the Brazilian artist already some years ago; he influenced my work which is presented in the practical part of the thesis. During my studies, I exhibited these works as part of several group and two solo exhibitions under the guidance of my mentor, Prof. Roman Makše. The educational part of the thesis features the concept for the art project titled Designing sculptural volume according to imagination and designing group installations on the principle of contemporary art practices, highlighting the concepts of installation and land art and presenting textiles as an excellent starting material for creativity. A great deal of attention is devoted to raising awareness of polluting and poisoning the environment, which is caused indirectly by excessive, indiscriminate and unnecessary consumption of clothing. While writing the thesis, I wandered about issues and dilemmas that are dealt with in its final part, while I at the same time looked for links between works of art, ideas and solutions that I discovered in the course of writing.
|
