{"id":555649,"date":"2026-04-28T20:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/555649\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:30:07","slug":"7-artists-discuss-the-power-and-urgency-of-textiles-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/555649\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Artists Discuss the Power and Urgency of Textiles \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe live with so many hard things,\u201d says Sheila Hicks, \u201cthat we\u2019re crying for softness.\u201d The pleasure, simplicity, and tactile qualities of textiles ground a new film from Louisiana Channel, which explores the ways in which fiber art remains both evocative and relevant in this increasingly digital era.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/1185838727\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">7 Artists on Soft Sculptures<\/a>\u201d weaves together a variety of distinct approaches to textiles. Nick Cave describes incorporating found plastics, toys, metals, fringe, and more into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/tags\/nick-cave\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">elaborate suits<\/a> that mask the wearer\u2019s identity, while Icelandic artist Shoplifter shares her obsessions with brightly dyed synthetic hair, which she transforms into immersive installations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>And Kaarina Kaikkonen offers her deeply personal reason for incorporating used clothing into her large-scale installations: \u201cWhen I was 14, after my father\u2019s death, I wanted to wear his clothes,\u201d she says. \u201cI felt very strongly that my father is near me if I wear his clothes.\u201d This invisible presence continues to inform her work, offering a connection to people and times passed.<\/p>\n<p>Louisiana Channel hosts a trove of videos featuring artists, writers, and designers, including earlier studio visits with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2022\/04\/chiharu-shiota-string-installations\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shiota<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2021\/09\/shoplifter-hair-installations\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shoplifter<\/a>, on <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/louisianachannel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soft-1.jpg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-473450\" title=\"Ernesto Neto\" data-rl_title=\"Ernesto Neto\" data-rl_caption=\"Ernesto Neto\" data-rl_><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1522\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/soft-1.jpg\" alt=\"ernesto neto sits on the floor while touching his sculpture\" class=\"wp-image-473451\"  \/><\/a>Ernesto Neto<\/p>\n<p>Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"118516\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colossal Member<\/a> now, and support independent arts publishing.<\/p>\n<p>Hide advertising<\/p>\n<p>Save your favorite articles<\/p>\n<p>Get 15% off in the <a href=\"https:\/\/colossal.shop\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colossal Shop<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Receive members-only newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe live with so many hard things,\u201d says Sheila Hicks, \u201cthat we\u2019re crying for softness.\u201d The pleasure, simplicity,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,126049,27081,10552,154689,10554,56,54,55,5793],"class_list":["post-555649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-fiber-art","tag-installation","tag-sculpture","tag-short-film","tag-textiles","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}