Informal Opportunities, Knots
Knots as open-source hardware
Date and time
Location
Brower Park
Prospect Place Brooklyn, NY 11213Refund Policy
About this event
- 2 hours
On World-Making
By Nomi Stone
To love is to tell the story of the world. There was
an ocean with a boat mountains a meadow too painful to stare
at directly. Haven’t I been here before? Yes. No: not quite here.
“It is not as if,” the philosopher writes, “an I exists
independently over here and then simply loses a you over there.”
In the mist, a man rigs the Suzelle, little red boat.
Loved labored for months, learning to tie the right knot. The exact
and only knot that will keep the vessel tethered. She rehearsed
for the worst possible thing. “The attachment to you,” it is written,
“is part of what composes who I am.” I know/knew
those hands, hers. I watched her dust the sourdough with flour
at midnight a moon between her fingers. Gone
went Loved. But the half-world of her in me
was me. It was lit by the moon.
Knots are ubiquitous—they play a role in almost every industry or trade. In this workshop we’ll explore knots as a form of open-source hardware—clips, hinges, stoppers—that can mantle and then be dismantled for purpose. Together, we will think about the possibilities of ropes, when knotted, to assemble, connect, and bear weight. What is the most aligned approach we can take when building to make full use of the potential of materials—rope, string, cord?
We’ll be learning some knot-tying basics, and then focus on three more complicated knots that demonstrate the scope of knot-tying possibilities:
- Quick Release
- Slide and Grip
- Lashing (tripod)
In this three-part workshop, designer and artist Eliza Axelson-Chidsey explores ways to create form for purpose, connecting the line between the structured, academic discipline, and the informal opportunities that we encounter all the time. Using found materials—whether they are naturally occurring or salvaged/repurposed—we’ll extend the same principles of form making.
What’s Included:
- Materials for knot-making
What to Bring:
- Lengths of rope, string, cord you’d like to explore (optional)
About Eliza Axelson-Chidsey
Eliza Axelson-Chidsey is a designer, artist, and curator based in New York City. Her interest in material culture is manifest in explorations of form, value, and ephemerality. Excited by research and concepts, and informed by her senses, she is regularly reminded how much learning is found through doing.
About Field Meridians Nature School
FM Nature School is a project to co-create an arts-based urban ecology curriculum that reflects our neighborhood in Brooklyn—aiming to generate tools for resilience.
Field Meridians is an artist collective committed to strengthening local food ecologies. Through site-specific programming, publishing, and radio broadcast, Field Meridians engages the Crown Heights community to lay the foundations for food sovereignty in the heart of Brooklyn. Field Meridians is an extension of MOLD magazine, the critically acclaimed online and print magazine about design and the future of food.