Oiko-Nomic Threads

"Oiko-nomic Threads represents a system commenting on the notion of labor through the production of a textile. By means of rethinking, modifying (hacking) and redefining the functionality of an obsolete knitting machine, and employing financial data from the databases of the Greek National Manpower Employment Offices, as well as selected patterns inspired by Greek folk art, a textile is generated algorithmically and in real-time.

The piece revolves around the very notion of labor in its various historical transfigurations; it draws upon different economic/technological paradigms to emphasize their (de)correlations and to, eventually, enact an uncanny hybrid where different incarnations of the very same technologies, symbols and social functions meet and co-affirm each other.  

This way, a plausible and fully functional model is suggested, which triggers a creative discourse at the intersection of traditional craftsmanship, dataism, algorithmic automata, hacking/tinkering, machine logic, generative art and physical labor—the point of convergence for the entire network.

The woven textiles are to be understood as records of their own making, which embed a particular narrative, as well as dynamic archival resources, exhibiting contingent algorithmic interpretations of the original financial data and through renovated traditional methodologies/aesthetics."

Marinos Koutsomichalis, Maria Varela and Afroditi Psarra in a statement to PLATFORM:VB (July 2015)