Textiles, Techne and Power in the Andes International Conference

On 15-17 March 2012 the project organised an international conference on ‘Textiles, Techne and Power in the Andes’, at the University of London and the British Museum.

The conference brought together academic researchers, museum curators and artists to explore the significance of textile design, beyond the immediate functional utility of cloth.

The variety of specialisms and approaches created a vibrant atmosphere, in which new ideas about textiles’ materiality, alterity, identity, politics and poetics were discussed.

The conference featured a spellbinding performance by Chilean poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña on Andean textiles and contemporary art, reminding the audience of the affective qualities of the khipus (knotted cords).

Other highlights included a lively opening of the Susie Goulder (Warmi) exhibition 'Textile Sculptures' at the Peruvian Embassy (Portable Gallery, from 19-30 March); and plenary lectures by Ann H. Peters and Tom Zuidema.

Please click on Conference programme to download a copy.

A conference report by Luciana Martins was published in the History Workshop Journal.

Please click on plenary lecture to listen to 'Paracas Necropolis: communities of textile production, exchange networks and social boundaries of the central Andes 150 BC to AD 250' by Ann H Peters.