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<p>In 2020, Trapholt (a Danish museum of modern art, craft and design) and textile designer Iben Høj launched a grand collaborative art project involving almost 800 embroiderers. The project, named Stitches Beyond Borders, was part of the centenary celebratrions of Denmark’s reunification with Southern Jutland, and participants were asked to embroider their personal vision of borders. By using a mixed method approach we firstly analyse how Stitches Beyond Borders, as a collaborative art project, created a strong sense of community and cultivated creative agency. Secondly, we focus on the discursive nature of the female public created by the art project. Taking into account the rich and complex history of embroidery as an underestimated female activity tied to repressive power mechanisms, we discuss whether the project ends up merely (re)creating an innocuous female public by favouring a personal take on the border theme.</p>
</abstract>

In 2020, Trapholt (a Danish museum of modern art, craft and design) and textile designer Iben Høj launched a grand collaborative art project involving almost 800 embroiderers. The project, named Stitches Beyond Borders, was part of the centenary celebratrions of Denmark’s reunification with Southern Jutland, and participants were asked to embroider their personal vision of borders. By using a mixed method approach we firstly analyse how Stitches Beyond Borders, as a collaborative art project, created a strong sense of community and cultivated creative agency. Secondly, we focus on the discursive nature of the female public created by the art project. Taking into account the rich and complex history of embroidery as an underestimated female activity tied to repressive power mechanisms, we discuss whether the project ends up merely (re)creating an innocuous female public by favouring a personal take on the border theme.

Threads of participation: Crafting female agency in a collaborative art project in Denmark

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In 2020, Trapholt (a Danish museum of modern art, craft and design) and textile designer Iben Høj launched a grand collaborative art project involving almost...

Threads of participation: Crafting female agency in a collaborative art project in Denmark

Published Online: Jul 04, 2022

Page range: 1 - 16

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/tjcp-2022-0003

Keywords
Museum 2.0, participatory art, intimate female publics, cultural participation, arts and craft, craftivism, creative agency, the participatory museum

© 2022 Tina Louise Hove Sørensen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Threads of participation: Crafting female agency in a collaborative art project in Denmark

Published Online: Jul 04, 2022

Page range: 1 - 16

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/tjcp-2022-0003

KeywordsMuseum 2.0, participatory art, intimate female publics, cultural participation, arts and craft, craftivism, creative agency, the participatory museum

© 2022 Tina Louise Hove Sørensen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Museum 2.0, participatory art, intimate female publics, cultural participation, arts and craft, craftivism, creative agency, the participatory museum