Rosa Tolnov Clausen
Weaving Kiosk
What. Artist in Residence
When. October and December 2022
Where. Haparanda
Organizers. HaparandAiR, Resurscentrum för konst, Luleåbiennalen/Konstfrämjandet Norrbotten
Who. Rosa Tolnov Clausen
(b.1985, Denmark. Live in Helsinki, Finland)
Website. rosatolnovclausen.com
What is urban? Compared to Helsinki, Luleå is a small town. Compared to Haparanda, Luleå is a capital. Compared to Korpilombolo, Haparanda is small city. My Weaving Kiosks have taken place in four Nordic Capitals and were created with the purpose of exploring how hand-weaving could take place in urban Nordic society today. Could new practitioners can be won for the craft if visible spaces in densely populated areas are set up? Spaces in which the approach to hand-weaving is made technically easier for beginners, which one can visit after work and only commit to for the period of time one wishes to. Spaces which offer the possibility of creating modern garments by hand.
Coming to Haparanda-Tornio as part of The Learning Room Residency, I am considering where and for whom a Kiosk in a non-metropolitan like this setting can make sense. After my visit last month, the dominance of educational spaces (versus commercial ones) in Haparanda center stuck with me. As has the abundance of unoccupied store fronts in the two city centers. My impression of there being a need for communal meeting places was underlined by how the mid-section of the shopping center Rajala appeared to serve for many as a non-commercial refuge place.
I was thrilled by the abundance of material witnessing to the hand-weaving history and heritage in the Norbotten region, and impressed by the care and generosity with which this material has been preserved and shared by Norbottens Museum archive and other institutions. I saw how knowledge hierarchies seem to be disrupted in this comparably sparsely populated territory, as the people in the museums cannot be experts on everything wherefore pathways open for professionals and amateurs to collaborate and learn from each other.
These impressions and more are what I will use as an outset for the development of the Haparanda-Tornio Weaving Kiosk. I am looking forward to coming back.
The Weaving Kiosk will take place in Rajalla on the border between Haparanda and Tornio from December 2nd - 9th. You are welcome to participate!
About Rosa Tolnov Clausen
My creative practice oscillates between the fields of craft and design. I create physical spaces about the practice of hand-weaving, using the craft as a catalyst for physical, social and creative interaction, and a pause in the contemporary urban everyday. I challenge notions about hand-weaving as a time- and space-consuming craft requiring high technical skill.
I hold a Master of Arts in Textile Design (Kolding School of Design, Denmark, 2013). Since my graduation I have created textile projects based in hand weaving with strong social components, for example the co-design project H.O.W. with the weavers at Blindes Arbejde (Work by the Blind) in Denmark and the participatory installations at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul; and Fuori Salone, Milan.
I am currently doing my PhD in Crafts at University of Gothenburg in Sweden.