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Studio XX invited Paule Mackrous as curator to explore the Matricules archive and offer us a Point of View reading of her findings.

 “[…] Both the spiritualists and their antagonists elaborated the electrical mysteries of the telegraph into a theory of woman as technology”
Jeffrey Sconce, Haunted Media, p.14

XX Fantastic

Re-enchantment

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If the connection between women and textiles goes back to the dawn of time, and if textiles and textile manipulation are what inspired the mechanisms of the computer, it seems perfectly logical to think that women and digital technology are intimately connected. Aren't textiles lauded as creative materials that reinstate the intimate connection between women and technology? While Cinderella's enchanted clothes react to the passing hours, the Stock Market Skirt reacts to the laws of the market.   Connected to a computer linked to various financial internet sites, the dress shortens and lengthens reflecting the changes in the stock market. Joanna Berzowska's “smart fibers” allow textile materials to detect and react to the presence of other people.   Her dresses and other articles of clothing respond to the movement and heat of our bodies. Valérie Walker uses textiles to create virtual textures on the computer screen. From the very first, artists affiliated with Studio XX have been exploring textiles as an artistic medium. The re-enchantment of textiles via technology strengthens the relationship between women and technology, even as it revives a traditionally feminine pastime.