Taking the story of Penelope –Odysseus’ wife– as a reference point, this work underlines the activities that take place in a factory: dull and repetitive labour. While waiting for her husband’s return, Penelope wove a burial shroud for Odysseus’ elderly father during the daytime and unravelled it at night, in order to delay having to marry again.
During the performance I wove stitch by stitch part of a shroud, which at the same time was being unravelled by my performance partner to add a futile dimension to the piece. For me the monotonous act of weaving was analogous to the repetitive assembly line production of the workers in the old factory.
In a rapidly changing world where much human labour is replaced by machines, beginning with early industrial machines to our present day symbiotic relationship with computers and digital systems; I wanted to raise the question of what is actually, tangibly being created out of all the endless activity in our lives.
Teresa Borasino | Peru 1978 Borasino's work draws on the ordinary in order to underline the sometimes hidden or imperceptible ‘extraordinary’. In an attempt to do this she creates situations within our habitual common space where one can discover unusual things and experience that specific moment or place in a broader dimension.
Through the exercises she performs, Teresa seeks to connect the external public space with the personal, subjective often involving the public in active participation.