meaghan bissett
selina latour 

A participatory art work, On Semble to Gather, 2025

Photos by Arseni Khamzin

 

Instruction: 

1. Choose a colour of thread.

2. Tie a loop knot and attach it at the first dowel (START).

3. Carefully follow the thread’s path, until you arrive back at the first dowel (END).

4. Repeat from steps 2- 3 as many times as you like.

5. Leave a 10 inch tail at the end of your thread and cut. To finish, tie a loop knot around the first dowel.

 

➪ ➫ ➬ ➮ ➯

 

This sculptural wall installation demonstrates to participants the preparatory weaving process of winding a warp (chaîne). Inspired by time-based warping performances by Anne Wilson and her team’s research that takes into account various global and cultural practices of warping - we set out to make our own game from this tediously repetitive action.

 

A structure, reminiscent of a children’s train track play-set, is assembled collaboratively. Several pieces puzzle together, and various dowels are inserted along the track to create a modular warping board. A guide string is tied on we each take our turn to participate in our collective project - slowly dragging a thread across and around pegs back and forth, until it has reached the desired warp length. 

 

The piece is left unfinished for others to wind the warp and participate in its creation. With various coloured spools of cotton left in the space and a set of visual instructions on the wall, others will walk the threads of the warp, and contribute to its widening structure during the length of the exhibition.