Contemporary Textile Art:Membranes of Relation

The premise of the article is that textile art has been ignored as a contrib-<br/>utor to art historical thinking. At the same time, in recent years, we have<br/>seen how textile - whether weaving, embroidery, appliqué, and more - has<br/>gained a foothold on the contemporary art scene. This schism has inspired<br/>the article, which first briefly presents its topic through a historical review<br/>of the status of textile works in the history of art, then introduces to the<br/>concepts of ‘relationscapes’ and ‘minor gesture’, developed by Erin Manning,<br/>to be applied on a discussion of current textile works by artists Anne-Sofie<br/>Overgaard, Kari Steihaug, and Anne Cathrin November Høibo. It is the<br/>article’s aim to demonstrate how the activation of spatial relations between<br/>the artworks and viewers should be included in art historical thinking as<br/>minor gestures questioning art historical judgements in which painting<br/>has hitherto been the dominant art form.