Join a Circle of Knowledge: Weaving Baskets, Weaving Futures With artist Katherine Behar & Fondazione Studio Rizoma.
During her research residency at Fondazione Studio Rizoma, Katherine Behar will visit localities in Sicily where traditional basketry techniques and materials are actively practiced today. She will convene intergenerational conversations among elders and youth from both urban and rural communities, rooted in this material vernacular and its metaphors. While learning together about Sicilian palm, rush, and caning, the baskets we weave will carry a conversation around technology and tradition, feminism and cooperative labor. In this context, will host a circle of knowledge exchange, where elders teach traditional skills through hands-on practice, and young people support them in navigating digital tools and understanding the connected world we live in while discussing together the challenges of technology and automatization.
Are you curious about the future of work, the value of tradition, and the role of technology in our lives and the Arts? Do you want to learn age-old crafts while imagining new ways to connect across generations?As part of her artistic research residency with Fondazione Studio Rizoma, New York-based artist and theorist Katherine Behar invites young people (ages ~18–30) from Palermo and nearby areas to take part in an intergenerational workshop exploring basketry, feminism, artistic practices, and automation.
Together with elders from both urban and rural Sicilian communities, you will:
– Learn traditional basketry techniques using palm, rush, and caning.
– Exchange skills in a two-way learning environment: hands-on weaving meets digital know-how.
– Reflect together on themes like cooperative labor, artisanal knowledge, and the impact of technology on work, art and identity.
In a relaxed, collaborative setting, these sessions will be a space to share stories, build something beautiful, and spark meaningful dialogue between generations.
What can we learn from traditional and artistic crafts that resist automation? How do we carry forward values rooted in slowness, care, and cooperation in a world of constant acceleration?
We are looking for 15 participants. No experience needed—just curiosity, openness, and a willingness to learn and exchange.
APPLY HERE TO PARTICIPATE!
Deadline: May 19, 2025
The event is co-organized with Auser.
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