ARCHIV Massiv exhibition
Baumwollspinnerei – Leipzig

Curated by Yianna Tsolaki

How do we understand, honour, and learn from the human stories and conditions of labour and community in these very walls? How might they inform our current challenges of survival and our needs to restore human and environmental connections towards an exit from the so-called anthropocene and capitalocene? How do these stories of industrial labour and community relate to those of traditional handicrafts around the world? How can contemporary design practices and ways of production and exhibition, starting from the critical documentation and reconfiguration of heritage practices, contribute to the projection and construction of better worlds?

“Arch and Pillar is She” proposes a gentle meditation on the moments of solidarity and the hidden meanings of feminine crafts, amidst the harsh gendered realities of the industrial labour force. The exhibit layers the Spinnerei setting with ΦΧΨ’s permutations of traditional Cypriot handicrafts and Penny Monogiou’s stories of spinners. Their playful surfaces take risks and invent new languages to give access to dark conditions, while they invite us to see the wealth and beauty beneath.