Threads: Material, Myths & Symbols - Hardcover

Spitz, Maria

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3753304956 ISBN 13: 9783753304953

Publisher: Walther & Franz König, 2024

Synopsis

The thread is an interesting thing. Formally, it can be described by a beginning and an end, and a certain stability, flexibility, and mobility. A thread rarely exists as a “thing in and of itself”; rather, it seems to await its actual use as a “thing in order to”. A great deal of symbolism is entwined with this inconspicuous object: it can stand for human life itself, as well as for the success of that life, and thus, like the myths spun around it, touches on existential questions.

Threads highlights these questions and layers of meaning by offering the opportunity to individually explore a wide variety of ideas and answers. It combines examples of the tools of spinning and weaving, classical mythological representations, and contemporary works of visual art that use the thread as a metaphor, model, or medium and make either the thread itself, or images of it, tangible as a means of artistic expression for the conditions and possibilities of life. In this way, Threads opens up conceptual spaces for reflection and association between the poles of fate and responsibility, trust and scepticism, power and powerlessness, and individuality and collectivity; Threadsbuilds bridges from antiquity through the present into a possible tomorrow.

ARTISTS: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Louise Bourgeois, Jeongmoon Choi, Alphonse-Victor Colas, Vincenz Grüner, Eva Hesse, Maria Lai, Rosa Loy, Cesare Nebbia, Vanessa Oppenhoff, Crispijn van der Passe, Antonio Tempesta, Rosemarie Trockel, Heike Weber.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Who does not know the thread of life, the common or silken thread? This book deals with the symbolic meanings that thread holds for human life, as already evident in the myths of antiquity: the thread of Ariadne in the labyrinth; the young woman, Arachne, transformed into a spider; and the three Moirai who spin the thread of human life. To this day, these stories touch on existential questions such as individuality and collectivity, power and powerlessness, doubt and certainty, fate and responsibility. Works of contemporary art and historical graphics, presented in both image and text, create spaces for thought and association-inviting us to engage with the openness of the meaning of threads, and to interweave them with personal thoughts and experiences.

Text: Birte Hinrichsen, Dr. Corinna Otto, Dr. Maria Spitz.

Edition details

• Publisher: Walther & Franz König
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3753304956
• ISBN 13: 9783753304953
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176