Week 09 & 10: Guerrilla Fabric Interventions in Public Space

Three Quotes from Hito Steyerl's "On Games"

You will have to imitate a not yet existent reality and game it into being. This is how playing grows into acting.

It seems that automation didn't necessarily free people from labour. Instead, it turned some workers into robots.

Have algorithms and data-farming short-circuited relations between computers, games and the economy, to create a world of involuntary play—and can critical art practice suggest ways to turn the tables?

Reflection

These quotes get at the core of what I'm doing. Steyerl says you have to imitate a reality that doesn't exist yet and game it into being. That's the yarn bombing. I'm not asking the city for permission to make participatory public art. I'm just acting like that world already exists, where anyone can walk up and add yarn to a tree without forms or approval. The permit system promises accessibility but really just turns creators into robots processing bureaucracy. We're stuck in involuntary play, following rules we never agreed to. So the intervention creates voluntary play instead. An unauthorized action that invites people to opt in and break the rules together. By imitating the reality where public art belongs to everyone, we make it real. Even if it only lasts an hour, for that moment it existed. Playing grows into acting.

Conversation with Margaret

Margaret started strategic. Instead of getting lost in theory we began with the most concrete element: yarn bombing itself. This immediately pulled up Craftivism and Yarn Bombing: A Criminological Exploration by Alyce McGovern and Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain plus two critical articles: "Crimes of the Senses: Yarn Bombing and Aesthetic Criminology" by Andrew Millie and "Towards a Politics of Whimsy: Yarn Bombing the City" by Joanna Mann. These texts became my research foundation.

Then Margaret suggested we try textile as resistance as a search term. Thats when things clicked. We stumbled onto dada textiles in the process but the real breakthrough was finding détournement. The Situationist technique of reusing preexisting elements to create new subversive messages.

Thats exactly what I'm doing. Taking donated fabric materials from Material for the Arts and giving them new meaning through yarn bombing. The materials themselves become détournement. Repurposed bureaucratic surplus transformed into unauthorized public art that invites participation.

Margaret taught me how to refine search terms. How to let one discovery lead to another. How the NYU library catalog works. Instead of drowning in abstract theory about Dadaism and bureaucracy I now have a focused research lens: détournement craftivism yarn bombing as political act. The conversation turned my scattered ideas into a coherent research direction.

The books and articles Margaret found are crucial starting points but I'm building my methodology around something else entirely. Hands On Research for Artists Designers and Educators by Seago and Dunne. I found this at a bookshop and immediately recognized myself in the research by making chapter. This is how I work. I need to make to think. The rooftop web I built for Project 1 was exactly this. Making as a form of research even though I ended up scrapping it from the final cut. That prototype taught me more than any amount of reading could have. I'm using this methodology as my foundation for Project 2.

I'm also pulling from Plan and Play Play and Plan: Positioning by Artists by Valiz as supplementary research. It speaks to the tension between structure and spontaneity thats central to this work.

Project 02 Topic: Textile Détournement and Public Space

My Project 02 uses textile détournement and Dada textile practices to challenge bureaucratic control of public art. The project asks: Who gets to make art in public space and what systems prevent ordinary people from becoming creators?

Détournement in action. I source materials from Material for the Arts. Donated fabric that institutions have discarded or deemed surplus. By repurposing these materials into unauthorized yarn bombing interventions the materials themselves become détournement. Bureaucratic waste transformed into tools of resistance.

Dada textiles as form. Historically Dadaists used textiles to critique industrial bureaucratic aesthetics. My project continues this tradition. I've developed a dystopian worldbuilding framework where officially sanctioned art follows rigid principles borrowed from pro bureaucratic movements. Futurism Constructivism Bauhaus Minimalism Swiss Design. All grey industrial controlled hard materials. The guerrilla interventions use soft materials to create chaos color and collective participation. Soft versus hard. Handmade versus machine made. Participatory versus institutional.

The intervention itself. I'll yarn bomb public parks without permits actively inviting passersby to participate and become co creators. The entire process will be documented. Both the making and any attempts to stop it.

Why this matters. Bureaucratic systems deliberately exclude community participation in public art. By creating unauthorized art using repurposed materials and inviting strangers to join the project reclaims public space for collective creativity and transforms passive spectators into active makers.

Research & Production Plan:

Methodology

Research lens: Books and articles from Margaret provide critical framework for understanding yarn bombing as political act craftivism and aesthetic criminology. Production methodology: Hands On Research for Artists Designers and Educators (Seago and Dunne) research by making approach. Plan and Play Play and Plan for structure versus spontaneity. Daily practice generates field data.

Phase 1: Daily Practice (Now to late November)

Research: Read theory on yarn bombing craftivism détournement Dada textiles. Build critical framework. Production: Go to public parks daily. Cover 1 to 2 objects in fabric. Take notes photos observe reactions. Document material origins from Material for the Arts. Research by making generates field data.

Phase 2: Final Intervention (Early December)

Research: Analysis of field data from daily practice. Apply critical lens from readings to what actually happened.

Production: Choose active public space. Start weaving. Have sign inviting participation. Continue until stopped or natural conclusion. Document photos video drone footage interviews.

Phase 3: Analysis and Presentation (December)

Research: Connect critical theory détournement Dada textiles craftivism criminology to field research. Compile findings.

Production: Review documentation. Create presentation. Present December 12.

Week-by-week Plan:

Week of Nov 11 to 17 (Topic finalized by Nov 11)

Research:

• Read McGovern Craftivism and Yarn Bombing: A Criminological Exploration

• Begin Situationist détournement theory Guy Debord

• Begin Dada textile history Sophie Taeuber Arp Hannah Höch

Production:

• Email topic: Textile Détournement and Public Space

• Start daily practice: cover 1 object document take notes research by making

• Photograph material origins from Material for the Arts for détournement narrative

• Identify 2 to 3 potential locations for final intervention

Week of Nov 18 to 24 (Preliminary prototype due Nov 18)

Research:

• Read Moore and Prain Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti

• Continue Dada textile research

• Begin Seago and Dunne Hands On Research for production methodology

Production:

• Continue daily practice: now 2 objects per outing

• Scout final location: time of day foot traffic security presence documentation angles

• Prototype due: daily practice documentation plus foam board spider web plus reflection on participation permission public reaction materiality of soft versus hard

Week of Nov 25 to Dec 1 (Iterated prototype due Nov 25)

Research:

• Read Millie Crimes of the Senses: Yarn Bombing and Aesthetic Criminology

• Read Mann Towards a Politics of Whimsy: Yarn Bombing the City

• Read Plan and Play Play and Plan: Positioning by Artists Valiz

• Analyze daily practice field data through critical lens

Production:

• Continue daily practice as research by making

• Test invitation to participate language: what will the sign say?

• Gather all materials for final intervention

• Iterated prototype due: more daily practice documentation plus detailed plan for final intervention location timing materials sign design documentation setup

Week of Dec 2 to 8

Research:

• Apply criminology lens from Millie to intervention experience

• Apply craftivism framework from McGovern to material choices and participation

• Analyze who participated who stopped me through theoretical frameworks

• Document findings: what this reveals about public space permission participation

Production:

• Final intervention happens: try for early in week but have backup days

• Drone footage photos video interviews field notes

• Active public space start weaving invite participation continue until stopped or natural conclusion

• Review all documentation

Week of Dec 9 to 12 (Presentation Dec 12 7:30pm to 10:30pm)

Research:

• Connect all theory détournement Dada textiles craftivism criminology to field research

• Synthesize critical analysis: how textile détournement disrupts bureaucratic control

• Analyze participant quotes through theoretical frameworks

Production:

• Edit video select photos organize documentation

• Create presentation: show evolution from original concept to Margaret's reframing to field research to final intervention to critical analysis

• Present the détournement: material origins transformation intervention aftermath theoretical implications

• Practice presenting

• December 12: PRESENT

Week of Dec 13 to 18 (Final documentation due Dec 18)

Research:

• Write final reflection connecting all critical theory to field research and practice

• Compile full bibliography

Production:

• Submit all documentation

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Research Sources

Critical lens from Margaret:

• McGovern Craftivism and Yarn Bombing: A Criminological Exploration

• Moore and Prain Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti

• Millie Crimes of the Senses: Yarn Bombing and Aesthetic Criminology

• Mann Towards a Politics of Whimsy: Yarn Bombing the City

• Steyerl On Games

Theoretical framework:

• Guy Debord Situationist International writings on détournement

• Sophie Taeuber Arp Hannah Höch Dada textile history

• Dadaism anti institutionalism participatory art

• Pro bureaucratic movements Futurism Constructivism De Stijl Bauhaus International Style Minimalism Swiss Design

Production methodology:

• Seago and Dunne Hands On Research for Artists Designers and Educators

• Valiz Plan and Play Play and Plan: Positioning by Artists

Production Materials

• Yarn and fabric from Material for the Arts

• Scissors tools

• Signage materials for participation invitation

• Documentation equipment camera drone access backup batteries

• Winter weather contingencies

• Indoor public space backups

• 2 to 3 location options ready

Critical Question

How does textile détournement repurposing institutional waste into unauthorized public art disrupt the bureaucratic systems that control who gets to create in public space?