Marianne Jorgensen and the Cast Off Knitters.
This is a project i wanted to discuss briefly called Pink Tank. It is a World War II-era combat tank that was covered in thousands of knitted squares. This piece was a clooaboration between Jorgensen and the Cast Off Knitters group and many other knitters from around the world. This piece was a petition or demoncratic work.
I find this very interesting. Firstly the vast pink patches caught my eye and i wanted to read more. Secondly the strong message about war that it is trying to protray interests me. Lastly the fact that a craft has been used in such a political statement to capture the hearts and minds of others i found powerful and i want to use this same idea to an exent in my work.
‘The deployment of such a large blanket on such a threatening object in a public space may seem like a disarmingly absurd gesture, but the dramtic use of crafted object to call attention to what is underneath creates a rupture in the ways in which the public interacts with the tank as a public war monument. The blanket gives the tank a physical presence, rather than a purely symbolic one. While addressing the pink tank cover, Jorgensen relies on the contrast between the symbols of tank ans blanket: ”For me, the tank is a symbol of stepping over other people’s borders. When it is covered in pink, it becomes completely unarmed and it loses its authority.” It links rememberance of war with our collective ability to reinterpret and affect it through public action, dissent, and dialogue.’
(Black, A, Burisch, N. (2011). Craft Hard Die Free. In: Buszek, ME Extra/Ordinary Craft and Contemporary Art. Durham and London: Duke University Press. p207-209.)
My project i feel has developed naturely into the idea of identity and authority, just like how Pink Tank becomes a harmless and armless piece through craft materials. My ideas relate to how the tank becomes completely unarmed and loses its authority through me giving up my authority and power to portray animal testing in a different light. I want to give George my beagle the authority over me through my craft and a video. Moreover i want to feel the pain and fear of losing ones authority so that i can understand more deeply how it would feel to be a situation unarmed.
