In yesterday's post we looked at the recent work of a crochet artist and knitwear designer, while, a couple of days ago, we reviewed a photographic book about knitters. Let's continue the thread by exploring the world of "Hyper Knitting" as interpreted by the Japanese artist Saki Chikaraishi.
Inspired by yarn bombing, guerrilla and graffiti knitting, Chikaraishi has been working on projects revolving around ambitious knit invading actions (that's why she uses the term "hyper" to define her interventions…) for a couple of years.
In 2014 she created what she dubbed the "Knit Invader Machine", that she then transformed into a "Travelling Knitting Machine", a sort of see-through trolley incorporating a knitting loom and 3D printed parts. As the artist drags it around, the loom quicky spins basic knitted tubes.
The pieces are then donated to people or used to cover handrails, chairs, and all sorts of other objects the artist finds on her path.
The main aim of her project is to connect places and people, and ultimately wrap the entire planet up in knitting as she attempts to do everywhere she goes (as proved by the videos she posts that chronicle the adventures of her "Travelling Knitting Machine"…).
The artist recently launched during the Kenpoku Art Festival (more about it in another post) a fun idea for Hitachi City.
Here she found an abandoned shopping district and tried to revitalise it into an avant-garde art space of collaborative community workshops that taught the locals how to produce by hand or via her "Knit Invader Machine" bits and pieces that the locals could use to wrap ordinary objects and lifeless streets.
This knit invading act brought smiles on the faces of the locals of all ages, proving that yarns can be used not just to weave clothes, but to create strong and authentic human relationships.
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