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Paper short abstract:

How can sewing, embroidery and teaching theory and criticism classes in higher education come together in a political climate where uncertainty on many levels has seeped through our lives while prevailing authoritarian tendencies govern our communication and force us to practice self-censorship.

Paper long abstract:

My background is in art history, aesthetics and media theory, so I’ve always thought of myself as a person of criticism and never as someone who herself visualizes social or political content for others to judge.

However, during the summer of 2019 I started to hand-sew together scraps of hand-me-down fabrics and a year later – after much deliberation – I bought a sewing machine and somewhat industrialized my production line.

This 2023 Spring semester will be the third semester that I use my crafting experience in my classes at ELTE University, Budapest.

The two major issues I’d like to address in my talk are as follows.

1., Uncertainty is something I believe to be at the core of teaching even if higher education policies claim to be the exact opposite. Uncertainty makes you vulnerable in traditionally hierarchical situations but who says teaching has to be about hierarchy. Uncertainty also makes you resourceful; learning should be about acquiring skills to survive so to say.

2., My creations have often been categorized as „art”, including the straight-up commentary that „I should sell them on Etsy, in market places and every possible social media platform.” Which I’ve always categorically declined and instead used my platforms to offer them as free gifts. The question is if I remove the market and the exchange of money from this equation, what is left. Can we still call my creations art objects? Why do people still think it is important to call anything handmade profitable art?