Grannittin

By: Harco Rutgers

Grannittin is originally a live performance by Robert Witt in collaboration with ‘Mevrouw de Vries’, a knitted art project initiated by visual artist Anne Reijse. Witt's performance consisted of the live manipulation of sounds emitted from contact microphones attached to the knitting needles of the knitting ladies present at the opening of a ‘Mevrouw de Vries’ exhibition.
Robert Witt decided to release his recorded performance through esc.rec., a small record label and platform for adventurous music. Together they figured it could also be interesting to see what other artists would do with the same source material; the sound of knitting needles. Thus esc.rec. selected and invited artists to remix knitting sound as recorded by Robert Witt. 15 different artists (seasoned electronica pioneers and relative newcomers alike) came up with their own interpretations, enough to fill two cd's!

Some artists use the sounds of knitting needles as sole audio source for their piece, others incorporate them in their music. Some artists also recorded additional sources, like Gluid who recorded an elderly lady explaining the simple mechanics of knitting to all of us (in Dutch dialect).

All results are superb listening experiences. The remixes vary from abstract experiments and (complex) structures to warm electronics, (minimal) techno and tasty rhythms.

Grannittin was released as a double cd-r in a unique package, handmade with recycled knitted fabrics. You can listen to Grannittin in the Knitted Worlds exhibition. You can order Grannittin here.

Robert Witt - Grannittin (live in Het Langhuis) (mp3)
http://www.escrec.com/robertwitt/grannittin.mp3