In our modern times, filled with GPS and GoogleMaps, it’s no wonder that we seem to have developed a fascination for knowing where we are at all times. It’s reached a new level of poignancy to be able to locate yourself as well as peer over your neighborhood from above, observing it’s grid-like form. This sentiment is popping up in various textile projects and is most successfully executed by Emily Fischer of Haptic Labs and Marcello Campa and Stefano Avesani of the Instant Hutong Project. While Fischer references the borough of Brooklyn, quilting on silk dupioni, Campa and Avesani explore the Hutong districts throughout downtown Beijing.  Regardless of the landscape, both works bring a permanency to topography that has become nearly extinct with technology’s latest advances.  Nowadays lines are blurred so easily perhaps there is a certain comfort in being able to see and feel the things that don’t change so easily.

Compiled by: Emily Gup