My lifeʼs work is dedicated to instigating new ways for participants to consider their engagement in the world, their purchasing power, or non-purchasing power. Transforming spaces of relaxation into spaces of physical production. Encouraging Participants to investigate the human cost of mass production and consumption. While addressing issues of value and time through the thoroughly hand-made construction and salvaging of garments thus making the apparel industry recognizable. Subverting apparel manufacturingʼs specialized skills, utilizing the pedagogy of pattern making, sewing, altering and mending, to achieve economic freedom from the globalize economy. These labor experiments are an attempt to redirect energy away from the production of capital, forming a reflective dialog about garment history, labor, marketing and the environment. When these ideas have been achieved on a monumental scale my work will be complete. I am uncertain if it is possible in my lifetime. Put I persevere 2. Whom do you want to address with your project? People with leisure time, and or purchasing power, who need to alter, mend or make a garment and thus having an opportunity to reconsider their relationship apparel production. 3. Why does your project work specifically in Berlin? Historically, Frau Fiber was born out of my experiences in Weimar and Berlin. She is a hybrid of research conducted about the apparel industry in Berlin / Weimar / Apolda, the loss of that industry as it was relocated to China after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I do not intend to romanticize the DDR era in German History, but to relfect on lost garment manufacturing. Frau Fiber is a character that was affected by the shift in apparel labor, much like her counterparts in the United States who lost jobs to lower wages. She is a by-product ,of the necessity to make do, when ones livelihood is taken away. Last summer Frau Fiber continued her research, tracing the Bauhaus from Weimar to Berlin. This next incarnation of Frau Fiber's work will be an opportunity to further build Frau Fiber's story of a former GDR garment worker, through the actions of bring sewing to the streets to Berlin. Geographically and socially there are three components, which make Berlin an ideal space for this project: 1. The abundance of caféʼs and public spaces that people use, 2. Bike culture and 3. High unemployment, which could mean people, are often looking for things to do which are inexpensive and or free. Finally I bellieve their are like minded people who would be willing participants for this project. Participants who would be wiling to be hired to build the bikes, help faciliate on site sewing and participate in conversations about the possiblities of sustainablity of this work. 4. How do your professional skills and personal experience contribute to your project? My great grandmother was a tailor, my grandmother was a seamstress and accomplished in the art of domestic craft. I was taught by my grandmother to sew my own clothes. I worked as a seamstress, cutter, pattern maker and designer for twelve years, before I was laid off from my job following the 2001 World Trade Center disaster, which caused a plummet in market sales because of low buyer attendance at the New York Fashion Market. These experiences, coupled with the current globalization of the apparel industry and itʼs effects on day-to-day living, are the foundation for my life mission, a methodical investigation into the human cost of mass production and consumption. In 2006 in Weimar Germany, I opened a shop SL MODE: one size fits all, a filter of my experiences through the production, merchandising and sales of garments. My commercial experiences as a textile worker were transformed into my artistic production. The impact of the experience in Weimar, lead to the evolution Frau Fiber, activist and itinerate textile worker. 5. In what way can your project be distinguished from your previous work – what specific contribution to contemporary UBER LEBENSKUNST? The most important consideration for this work, which distinguishes from my previous work, is the self-critique reflexting on the Sewing Rebellion. The Sewing Rebellion participants primarily have been middle class Americanʼs, people who have the leisure time, and choose to spend it sewing. I find this to be problematic. It doesnʼt reach the people who might actually need to know how to sew. I hope with the work in Berlin to consider the notion of Leisure time, Leisure space, Leisure class, the unemployeed Leisure class and the potential for these to be transformation into a node of production, with the intention of decreasing consumption of cheep disposable goods, which are produced under poor labor conditions, often exploiting women and children. There is an element of utopic romanticism in this work, I wonder if it does have the possiblity to be a sustianable model of cultural production as a tool for transformation? Integrating an everyday of practice, of making and mending ones garments, found in the most unlikely of places, cafes, parks, open air markets, cultural institutions or while waiting in line at the bank, with ones leisure time. I hope in Berlin over the duration of the project to prove it to be beyond a utopian idea. So the Sewing Rebellion is Leisure spaces become virial, infecting cafes, parks, squares around the globe! C) Finance Plan Please complete the following finance plan realistically. A. FEES (Honorarkosten?) pos. description amount 1 Air fare to Berlin 4000 2 Food 1000 3 housing 2000 4 artist fee 6000 5 6 7 8 Fees Total 13000 B. NONPERSONNEL COSTS pos. description amount 1 Head quarter store front rental for two months 1000 2 Ad Min 500 3 User Manual Printing 600 4 Production of 10 Portable Human Powered Sewing Machines 10,000 5 texteils and clothing for repurpose donated 6 notions 200 7 Instructional Signage 1000 8 Participation patches 1000 Nonpersonnel Costs Total 14,300 C. MINUS CO-FINANCING PARTNERS Pos. Beschreibung Betrag 1 Kickstarter - 4300 2 CSULA/Travel - 3000 3 - 4 - Minus Co-Financing Partners Total - 7300 NEEDED ALLOWANCE 20,000-- D) Presentation In case your project is selected to be supported by ÜBER LEBENSKUNST, you will be invited to present your project during the kick-off event at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt on September 8 and 9, 2010. You will have seven minutes for your presentation. Please outline how you would like to present your project and what kind of equipment will be required. Frau Fiber proposes to submit her plan via tele conference on Skype, introducing the new prototype of the Collaborative Pedal Power Sewing Machine, which is currently being produced in Los Angeles for an upcoming exhibition. Conceptual support In addition to the financial support we are also planning conceptual support during the implementation phase (October 2010 – August 2011): The ÜBER LEBENSKUNST.klub will provide an opportunity for mutual exchange and networking among participants. Who would you like to invite to this club – theorists, practicians, artists, researchers or everyday heroes? What kind of information or knowledge would you need to realize your project successfully? We are asking these questions out of interest in a common discussion on ÜBER LEBENSKUNST. Your response is voluntary and will not be taken into consideration by the jury. EF Schumacher Society Author Small is Beautiful http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/ Marcel Van Der Linden - Labor Historian http://www.assr.nl/scholars/staff/vanderlinden.html Like minded Berliner's who are interested in portable practiceses (food, service, etc) Berliner's who make their living with small enterprises - shoe shines, alternations, food carts, book mobiles.
My lifeʼs work is dedicated to instigating new ways for participants to consider their engagement in the world, their purchasing power, or non-purchasing power. Transforming spaces of relaxation into spaces of physical production. Encouraging Participants to investigate the human cost of mass production and consumption. While addressing issues of value and time through the thoroughly hand-made construction and salvaging of garments thus making the apparel industry recognizable. Subverting apparel manufacturingʼs specialized skills, utilizing the pedagogy of pattern making, sewing, altering and mending, to achieve economic freedom from the globalize economy. These labor experiments are an attempt to redirect energy away from the production of capital, forming a reflective dialog about garment history, labor, marketing and the environment. When these ideas have been achieved on a monumental scale my work will be complete. I am uncertain if it is possible in my lifetime. Put I persevere 2. Whom do you want to address with your project? People with leisure time, and or purchasing power, who need to alter, mend or make a garment and thus having an opportunity to reconsider their relationship apparel production. 3. Why does your project work specifically in Berlin? Historically, Frau Fiber was born out of my experiences in Weimar and Berlin. She is a hybrid of research conducted about the apparel industry in Berlin / Weimar / Apolda, the loss of that industry as it was relocated to China after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I do not intend to romanticize the DDR era in German History, but to relfect on lost garment manufacturing. Frau Fiber is a character that was affected by the shift in apparel labor, much like her counterparts in the United States who lost jobs to lower wages. She is a by-product ,of the necessity to make do, when ones livelihood is taken away. Last summer Frau Fiber continued her research, tracing the Bauhaus from Weimar to Berlin. This next incarnation of Frau Fiber's work will be an opportunity to further build Frau Fiber's story of a former GDR garment worker, through the actions of bring sewing to the streets to Berlin. Geographically and socially there are three components, which make Berlin an ideal space for this project: 1. The abundance of caféʼs and public spaces that people use, 2. Bike culture and 3. High unemployment, which could mean people, are often looking for things to do which are inexpensive and or free. Finally I bellieve their are like minded people who would be willing participants for this project. Participants who would be wiling to be hired to build the bikes, help faciliate on site sewing and participate in conversations about the possiblities of sustainablity of this work. 4. How do your professional skills and personal experience contribute to your project? My great grandmother was a tailor, my grandmother was a seamstress and accomplished in the art of domestic craft. I was taught by my grandmother to sew my own clothes. I worked as a seamstress, cutter, pattern maker and designer for twelve years, before I was laid off from my job following the 2001 World Trade Center disaster, which caused a plummet in market sales because of low buyer attendance at the New York Fashion Market. These experiences, coupled with the current globalization of the apparel industry and itʼs effects on day-to-day living, are the foundation for my life mission, a methodical investigation into the human cost of mass production and consumption. In 2006 in Weimar Germany, I opened a shop SL MODE: one size fits all, a filter of my experiences through the production, merchandising and sales of garments. My commercial experiences as a textile worker were transformed into my artistic production. The impact of the experience in Weimar, lead to the evolution Frau Fiber, activist and itinerate textile worker. 5. In what way can your project be distinguished from your previous work – what specific contribution to contemporary UBER LEBENSKUNST? The most important consideration for this work, which distinguishes from my previous work, is the self-critique reflexting on the Sewing Rebellion. The Sewing Rebellion participants primarily have been middle class Americanʼs, people who have the leisure time, and choose to spend it sewing. I find this to be problematic. It doesnʼt reach the people who might actually need to know how to sew. I hope with the work in Berlin to consider the notion of Leisure time, Leisure space, Leisure class, the unemployeed Leisure class and the potential for these to be transformation into a node of production, with the intention of decreasing consumption of cheep disposable goods, which are produced under poor labor conditions, often exploiting women and children. There is an element of utopic romanticism in this work, I wonder if it does have the possiblity to be a sustianable model of cultural production as a tool for transformation? Integrating an everyday of practice, of making and mending ones garments, found in the most unlikely of places, cafes, parks, open air markets, cultural institutions or while waiting in line at the bank, with ones leisure time. I hope in Berlin over the duration of the project to prove it to be beyond a utopian idea. So the Sewing Rebellion is Leisure spaces become virial, infecting cafes, parks, squares around the globe! C) Finance Plan Please complete the following finance plan realistically. A. FEES (Honorarkosten?) pos. description amount 1 Air fare to Berlin 4000 2 Food 1000 3 housing 2000 4 artist fee 6000 5 6 7 8 Fees Total 13000 B. NONPERSONNEL COSTS pos. description amount 1 Head quarter store front rental for two months 1000 2 Ad Min 500 3 User Manual Printing 600 4 Production of 10 Portable Human Powered Sewing Machines 10,000 5 texteils and clothing for repurpose donated 6 notions 200 7 Instructional Signage 1000 8 Participation patches 1000 Nonpersonnel Costs Total 14,300 C. MINUS CO-FINANCING PARTNERS Pos. Beschreibung Betrag 1 Kickstarter - 4300 2 CSULA/Travel - 3000 3 - 4 - Minus Co-Financing Partners Total - 7300 NEEDED ALLOWANCE 20,000-- D) Presentation In case your project is selected to be supported by ÜBER LEBENSKUNST, you will be invited to present your project during the kick-off event at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt on September 8 and 9, 2010. You will have seven minutes for your presentation. Please outline how you would like to present your project and what kind of equipment will be required. Frau Fiber proposes to submit her plan via tele conference on Skype, introducing the new prototype of the Collaborative Pedal Power Sewing Machine, which is currently being produced in Los Angeles for an upcoming exhibition. Conceptual support In addition to the financial support we are also planning conceptual support during the implementation phase (October 2010 – August 2011): The ÜBER LEBENSKUNST.klub will provide an opportunity for mutual exchange and networking among participants. Who would you like to invite to this club – theorists, practicians, artists, researchers or everyday heroes? What kind of information or knowledge would you need to realize your project successfully? We are asking these questions out of interest in a common discussion on ÜBER LEBENSKUNST. Your response is voluntary and will not be taken into consideration by the jury. EF Schumacher Society Author Small is Beautiful http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/ Marcel Van Der Linden - Labor Historian http://www.assr.nl/scholars/staff/vanderlinden.html Like minded Berliner's who are interested in portable practiceses (food, service, etc) Berliner's who make their living with small enterprises - shoe shines, alternations, food carts, book mobiles.