Hera Büyüktaşcıyan
What would the idea of the origins of humanity look like if archaeologists had been able to study all the perishable materials that had long since dissolved and broken down? Perhaps the whole of history would have been rewritten and we would have talked about the thread age instead of the iron age, the weaving age instead of the bronze age.
In the exhibition Soft Logic, visitors are invited to a room to rethink what we “know” together with a group of artists who twist perspectives and explore logics other than the accepted. One of the artists speculates on the relationship between traditional patterns and modernist abstractions together with a group of women from Sidi El Mokhtar in Marrakech. Stretched along the floor of the art gallery, we encounter traces of Tensta’s millennial history from the Folkunga era to the Million dwelling program, depicted in carpet layers with cut-out patterns. Fabric with visible folds and traces of previous use testify to the value of textiles as part of a universal everyday gesture. Ceremonial textiles are used in all religions, but what could a ritual textile look like for a time with a need to express queer community?
This is something that is presented in brand new works by the participating artists. But Tensta konsthall also has its own textile tradition.