Interview with an exhibition guide

By: Suzan Russeler

Lately I talked with my colleague Esther van den Borne, who is working as a designer and also as a guide in our museum. Esther was very enthusiastic about Knitted Worlds and her experience with groups.

`I´m happy with this exhibition because it challenges people and triggers them to think. Mostly I give guided tours to high school and art students, or to groups with some special interest. That means that people are reasonably well informed about the subject matter. When you enter the exhibition hall straight ahead you see the artworks of ´knit´ pioneers like Rosemarie Trockel and Elaine Reichek. Some of those works aren´t that easy to read. But, luckily right across of these works there is this very illustrative film of Dave Cole, called The Knitting Machine.

Two excavators, holding enormous knitting needles, move back and forth while the artist himself puts some XL yarn in a loop around the needles, thus knitting the American flag. People like watching this film and immediately understand the interrelation between art and knitting. So that blow up of the act of knitting by Dave Cole is a very good point of reference for other more subtle art works.
This start up of my tour also offers the opportunity to switch from the art aspect to more technical aspects of knitting, material and texture depending on the interest of the group.

The works of Jimini Hignett and Jayne Parker some visitors, mainly elderly or youngsters, experience as quite confronting.

However if you tell them that the works are an artistic reaction on social and artistic issues people can deal with it, discuss it. The funny thing is that they seem to feel relieved they aren´t expected to appreciate the works in terms of beauty.


Photo´s: Joep Vogels (Audax Textielmuseum Tilburg)