March 15, 2006
Turbulence Commission: "Knitoscope Testimonies" by Cat Mazza
Testimonies Against Sweatshop Labor
Knitoscope Testimonies is the first web based video using "Knitoscope" software, a program that translates digital video into a knitted animation; it imports streaming video, lowers the resolution, and then generates a stitch that correspondes with the pixel's color. Knitoscope is a moving image offshoot of microRevolt’s freeware knitPro. The title "Knitoscope" is based on Edison’s early animation technology the kinetoscope, which was a "coin operated peep show machine…watched through a magnifying lens." The "Testimonies" in this piece are from various professionals who work against sweatshop labor: Erica Zeitlin works in legislative policy change in Los Angeles; Roian Atwood develops new business models at "American Apparel"; Eric Frumin is the Director of Health and Sanitation for UNITE HERE; and Jim Keady is the founder of "Educating for Justice." More Testimonies will be uploaded during the weekend of the Sweat Free Communities Conference (April 7-9, 2006) in Minneapolis, MN. [To view testimonies at 180x120 ratio, pop-ups must be enabled. Requires Flash Player.]
"Knitoscope Testimonies" is a 2006 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation.
BIOGRAPHY
Cat Mazza is an artist who lives in New York. She is the founder of microRevolt which is responsible for a series of art projects that combine knitting, machines, and digital social networks to educate about the sweatshop crisis. microRevolt projects have exhibited as part of the 2005 Performa Biennial in NYC, Futuresonic in Manchester UK, FILE in São Paulo and received a “Digital Communities” award at Ars Electronica. The work has been reviewed in MIT Press, the Eyebeam Journal, Knit Knit, Financial Times Deuschland, and Bust Magazine. Mazza received her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and MFA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Posted by jo at March 15, 2006 07:45 AM
