Barbara Christol

In Situ

"Weaving the Blanket to Oneself"

“Weaving the Blanket to Oneself”

IAn ephemeral and immersive installation that flirts with performance, Weaving the Blanket to Oneself stands in contrast to the French expression “tirer la couverture à soi” (pulling the blanket to oneself). Weaving is a practice of connection, and this piece invites the viewer to consider creation through the lens of relationality—with others, but also with the intimate ties that artisanal gestures maintain with contemporary visual art.

Originally conceived for the 3rd edition of Hors-Lits Pézenas in March 2020, the installation became invasive during the lockdown, as the blanket overtook the space, giving rise to an ambivalent sensation of uncanny strangeness where absurdity reigned…

***

Created in 2005 by Léonardo Montecchia, the Hors-Lits network organizes evenings that explore a sensitive rewriting of intimacy by opening alternative spaces between artists, residents, and spectators. These events, hosted in private apartments, have expanded to multiple cities, forming “rhizomes” of artists gathered around a shared concept: a guided urban journey where participants visit four inhabited apartments, each hosting a 20-minute artistic performance.

Spider Project
Spider Project is a multi-layered initiative encompassing both theoretical and visual research around the notions of play and transitional space.
 
Launched in the early 2000s through playful installations that repeatedly featured a transitional object—a sky-blue plush rabbit, Barbara Christol’s childhood comfort toy—this research has gradually evolved over the decades into a woven performance practice. It responds to the constraints of the artist’s solo travels around the world: the lightness of the material, its ability to quickly invade a space, and the emotional charge of the yarn, which facilitates connection with local communities, especially Andean women.
 
This practice follows a set of self-imposed rules:
1 – Always use the same signature yarn: 56 skeins of sky-blue “Teddy” wool by Bergère de France, echoing the color and texture of the original comfort toy.
2 – Never cut the yarn.
3 – Never alter the site: the web’s trace exists only through photographic documentation.