Art Pluriverse: A Community Science Series Intangible Cultural Heritage | Art | Open Knowledge
Biennale of Western Balkans 1st edition: Textile Month December 2020
“Art Pluriverse” is an annual community science series initiated by the Biennale of Western Balkans in connection with the History of Art Laboratory, School of Fine Arts, at the University of Ioannina, Greece. Art Pluriverse aims to uplift intangible cultural heritage through community science, by engaging communities and the public in co-creative research in collaboration with artists and researchers. Drawing on art, intangible cultural heritage the program foregrounds communities who safeguard local practices, by documenting their artistic heritage and traditional knowledge through open, educative and participatory methods.
Roma Aliviri Community
The textile memories of the Roma Aliviri Community in Volos, Greece often remain hidden and forgotten in domestic and private settings. What stories do they tell? Clothing and textiles are intimately connected to the significant moments in our lives: birth, childhood, marriage, school, play, work, celebration, home and death. For generations handmade textiles and clothing marked milestones of life. Circles of women, mothers and daughters, shared techniques, advice and memories in villages and neighborhoods as they worked by hand to embellish and mend. Clothing is an important aspect of identity. There is a language among woman that can be accessed through oral histories of textiles. Stories about clothing significant in their lives traced a history of their community, its traditions and transformations, rekindling a bond between generations.
Storytelling and Sharing
Beginning with storytelling and sharing of textile memories, new ways to combine style and craft traditions emerged. The goal was to bring cultural heritage handicrafts together with contemporary design to demonstrate the possibilities. We explored the power of clothing to reflect our personal identity and collective struggles. In this way we inscribed a public narrative that reflects individual and shared desires.
BoWB is an initiative of the History of Art Laboratory of the School of Fine Arts University of Ioannina. https://bowb.org/about-bowb/