ENCODED TEXTILES

A COLLABORATIVE ART PROJECT BY GUILLERMO BERT

The first iteration of the Encoded Textiles project involved a Mapuche community in Chile, the artist's home country. It was inspired by his observation that the “Aztec Code,” a specific form of QR (“Quick Response”) code, with its tiered pyramid-shaped structures, closely resembles graphic designs in the textile arts of Native peoples.  Returning to Chile, the artist collaborated with Mapuche weaver Anita Paillamil, poet Graciela Huinao, and other community members to bring to light the relationship of Indigenous art forms and cultural identities revealed through the encoded works. Viewers scan the QR codes with their smart phones, thereby opening access to the Mapuche world through video clips. Their world, as it turns out, is not so remote from ours– fraught with the same forces of ecological degradation and commercial exploitation of resources, yet also filtered through life affirming renewal rituals and cultural celebrations that this project captures in multi-media formats.

THE TEXTILES PREVIEW

Mapuche, Acoma and Zapoteca Weavings

A  COLLABORATIVE  PROJECT

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

SEPTEMBER 13 - NOVEMBER 9, 2014

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014 - JANUARY 4, 2015

NOVEMBER 4, 2014 - APRIL 6, 2015

This exhibition coincides with six new exhibits at MOAH, with the headlining show Encoded Textiles by renowned Los Angeles-based artist Guillermo Bert. Bert explores issues of indigenous culture and identity in the 21st century. Encoded Textiles engages a new generation of bar code technology and indigenous symbols through large textiles made by traditional Mapuche, Acoma and Zapotec weavers.  Through the weavings together with slick laser cut cube sculptures, podcasts and film clips, the artist offers his commentary on the issues of identity and cultural loss in our global society.

 

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The Craft & Folk Art Museum presents New Directions: A Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Textiles, featuring technical, aesthetic, and structural innovations in textile art. Organized by the Textile Society of America (TSA), the exhibition opening coincides with TSA’s symposium, “New Directions: Examining the Past, Creating the Future,” taking place at UCLA in September.  The jury panel selected 19 established and emerging artists whose work reflects the shifts and future movements in textile art.

 

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The Museum of Arts and Design presents the first American museum group exhibition dedicated to contemporary Latin contemporary design and its confluence with art and traditional crafts in Latin America. Featuring more than 75 designers, artists, craftspersons, and collectives, New Territories: Laboratories for Design, Craft and Art in Latin America surveys the innovative, cross-disciplinary collaborations and new directions in creative production that have been occurring throughout Latin America since 2000.

 

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ENCODED TEXTILES SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND SOON WILL BRING MORE CONTENT RELATED TO THE PROJECT

LA Site Fine Art | 642 Moulton Avenue Studio #E19 Los Angeles, CA 90031 | 323-221-8384 studio | 818-216-7575 cell | gbert1@earthlink.net