UNRAVEL
(2009-ONGOING)
This work centers on the activities of doing, undoing, and redoing. Hand-knit blankets, sweaters, shawls, and vests are taken apart and re-created in a process that mirrors the compromise and change inherent in life. What interests Brucker is the way in which taking something apart allows for a change of mind and heart. The process is evident in installations incorporating the reworked and reconstructed pieces, as well as in solo and participatory performances where gentle touch and the principles of the Alexander Technique guide the participant (Brucker is a trained teacher of this technique). Using this technique allows the participant to recognize tension patterns in one’s body resulting from thought and physical habit and begin to learn how to generate a feeling of ease and reduce anxiety. Photo credits: Brian Forrest (Unravel); Lorenzo Sisti (Unravel Box and Unravel Performance section); Michael Underwood (Unravel Box, row 1).
Unravel Box
The sculptural boxes in this series function both as objects on display and props for a meditative sound and movement performance at BAIK Art in Culver City. Throughout the performance and exhibition, each box repeatedly changed from emptiness, fullness and closure.
Unravel Performance
Unravel has been the title for several performances related to the creation and installation of the work. Each performance is different, though they all explore similar themes related to letting go, releasing tension, and exploring gravity.
de/cipher
Brucker’s Unravel was performed during de/cipher, a 2023 exhibition curated by Gracia Khouw and Dr. Susannah Cremer-Bermbach. The performances took place at Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam and gkg // Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung e.V. in Bonn, Germany. Exhibition statement excerpt:
The semiotic interplay of encoding and decoding and their translation into lines, shapes, colors, patterns, signs, symbols means communication takes place constantly and in many different ways via sign systems of all kinds. Coded characters such as letters, numbers, symbols represent and convey information. Most of the time we use them without thinking about it. If the smoothly running automatism guaranteed by the usual arrangement of known semantic elements is disturbed, usual processes of perception break open and further possibilities of translation are released.
In accordance with the focus of the exhibition, de/cipher refers to the concept of the cipher, in which, beyond the coding, the enigmatic, mysterious, and also misunderstood aspects of encrypted information resonate. Accordingly, the existential philosopher Karl Jaspers called ciphers mental experiences that convey to us materially incomprehensible things.
Photo Credit: Philip Cremer-Bermbach.
gkg // Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung e.V.
Artist Naho Kawabe and Dr. Jeremy Wasser performed in Brucker’s Unravel at the opening reception of de/cipher at gkg in Bonn, Germany on January 22, 2023. Kawabe and Wasser created vocals emphasizing the acoustic aspect of communication and the unmaking of meaning while the sweater worn by Wasser was simultaneously taken apart. More from gkg catalogue “The close connection between text and textile dates back much further than the common Latin language root indicates. It can already be found in the mythical tale of the Cretan princess Ariadne, whose ball of thread led Theseus safely out of Daedalus' labyrinth after he had defeated Minotaur.
In this iteration of Unravel, Brucker referred to this thread, which has run through the tales woven from lines of text ever since, in an insinuating cryptic way. Baritone Wasser, performed (the familiar Rhineland melody) Heinrich Heine's Song of the Loreley, set to music by Friedrich Silcher. Performed in individual sequences, the sound grew word by word into a line, while Kawabe, representing Brucker, pulled thread after thread from his sweater. Finally laid down on a flat white pedestal, the sweater, unraveled in places, recalls the mythical origin of the proverbial red thread, which can subsequently be traced in the works on display.” Photo Credit: Philip Cremer-Bermbach.
Arti et Amicitiae
The three performers in Brucker’s Unravel performance at Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam appear in front of Gracia Khouw’s wall installation EN SCHEPPEN – The Process of Creation in 106 Dutch and 108 English Words where selected words on the wall appear as lines of text around an imaginary circle.
The Amsterdam exhibition took place April 22 – May 21, 2023 with José Heerkens, Gracia Khouw, Johanna Reich, Marjorie Welish, Carlo Battisti, Julia Bünnagel, Jochen Gerz, Eugen Gomringer, Jill van Grinsven + Jakke Jalink, Keti Kapanadze, Naho Kawabe, Wjm Kok, Joseph Kosuth, Tatjana Macić, Vera Molnar, Franz Mon, Gonzalo Reyes Araos, Gerhard Rühm, Eva-Maria Schön, Anita Stöhr Weber, Timm Ulrichs, Peter Wüthrich, Paul Goede, Jane Brucker + Jeremy Wasser, Timo Berndt.
Photo Credit: Dr. Susannah Cremer-Bermbach.
Text from Arti’s de/cipher exhibition page:
Like storytelling, singing is one of the original means of communication, dating back to the beginning of human history. With this in mind, Jane Brucker developed the concept for a performance at Arti. Brucker and a fellow performer Meghan Parker are unraveling a jumper (sweater) belonging to Brucker’s partner Jeremy Wasser. Meanwhile Wasser sings and deconstructs a song about words and creativity.
Unravel All Over the Place
Unravel began in Germany at the Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus Schloss Plüschow artist residency and has developed into silent and solitary reflections and group or student workshops and collaborative performances with others. In the end, each participant or viewer gained insight into how the process of reversing what is done or taken apart via Unravel allows for a change of mind, a release of tension, physical knots and tactile tangles or even, a change of heart.
Unravel Berlin
This workshop was held in Berlin at the Forum for Meditation & Neuroscience as a collaborative performative experience. The workshop combined both a scientific and an arts viewpoint. Photo credit: Jeremy Wasser.
Unravel Idaho
Over the past twenty years, Brucker and brushmaker Glenn Grishkoff have engaged in performances using familiar objects and heirlooms. The idea of collaboratively staging a participatory experience for students and faculty at the University of Idaho, Moscow resulted in a weeklong artist-in-residency and an exchange of work with three performances and an exhibition in the university galleries.
Unravel Scotland
Brucker’s interest in encouraging the viewer to experience quiet, solitude and darkness was further cultivated during a winter residency at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in the tiny town of Lumsden, Scotland. For this project, Brucker sought to understand the importance of solitude in a world of ever-increasing connections. While examining how textiles can promote “quiet” she also performed experiments with her fellow artists in the residency and with a community yarn shop where she learned how to use a spinning wheel. Photo credit: Jane Brucker.
Unravel Japan
Set on the first floor of the Yasuda Building, Port Gallery T has been exhibiting the contemporary works of established and emerging artists since 2007. The gallery’s most distinct feature is its ‘White Cube Space’ where the art is exhibited. A small piece of Unravel was sent to Japan along with the video of Brucker’s hands undoing a garment. A child’s unraveled white sweater was displayed on a small shelf.
Unravel Culver City
During the 2019 performance, two musicians and two movement artists accompanied me in creating an immersive two hour meditative sound and movement experience in the unique gallery space BAIK Art occupies. Thank you to Jeremy Hahn, SkyE, Brenda Reyes-Chavez and Kathryn Shuman for their contributions. Photo credit: Lorenzo Sisti.
Unravel Downtown Los Angeles
Cellist Marybeth Bolin performed Unravel at Human Resources Gallery in Chinatown alongside a large pile of textiles and a video featuring Brucker’s hands. The 2013 durational performance was part of a performance in curator Brian Getnick’s survey of Los Angeles performance. An interview with Brucker was featured in the accompanying journal Native Strategies. Photo credit: Brian Getnick. Videographer credit: Sarah Christolini.
Unravel Hamburg
In summer 2020, an invitation to participate as a performer in Hamburg artist Naho Kawabe’s work Camera Isolata, paired Brucker with artist Setbyol Oh. Together the two artists spent 30 minutes on a Zoom call, relating to each other as if they were in a magical underwater room. They were each asked by Kawabe to bring something to the room to work on with their hands. Brucker brought a knit sweater and proceeded to unravel it during the conversation. Photo credit: Video still from Camera Isolata by Naho Kawabe.
Unravel Texas
This performance took place in the Wright Gallery and was linked to Brucker’s workshop and guest lecture for Texas A&M University’s Department of Visualization in School of Architecture. Hanging garments were created from knit materials in various stages of undoing by A&M students and were installed in the gallery. The Alexander Technique was used to introduce an experience of physical and psychological ease within the students as they participated in helping to make each hanging piece. Photo credit: Jane Brucker.
Unravel Cologne
At Tiefgarage, one of three neighboring art spaces located at Cologne Ebertplatz subway station, Brucker performed a sound piece with musician and partner Dr. Jeremy Wasser. Wasser’s soaring baritone was “undone” by interruptions prompted by her unraveling of his sweater. Photo credit: Julia Bünnagel.
Unravel Plüschow
In 2006, Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus Schloss Plüschow awarded five grants to a group of international artists for the duration of three months, from October to December. While at the residency, Brucker became interested in learning to knit. The director of the residency introduced Brucker to a woman living in the nearby forest who only spoke German and Russian. The daily visits from her guest and Brucker’s predominant left-handedness meant Brucker spent more time taking her garment apart than knitting it together. The strange isolation of this experience prompted her to think about the patience and care needed to undo knots and take things apart. Her installation at the residency included her guest sitting in a chair with her knitting as images of Brucker’s work were projected into the room. Photo credit: Jane Brucker.
Unravel Santa Monica
With nine participants at 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, Brucker created a participatory workshop structure that resulted in a three-hour meditation on the process of doing, un-doing and re-doing. This project was connected to the beginning of the group Yarn Bomb LA and curated by Arzu Kosar. Brucker and a fellow teacher of the Alexander Technique encouraged participants to undo tension patterns they noticed in their bodies while unraveling the knit garments they had chosen. Photo credit: Jane Brucker.
Unravel West Los Angeles
Laband Gallery on the Marymount University Campus was host to Brucker’s work in the exhibition Remnants of the Real curated by Claudia Bohn-Spector. A second performance with cellist Marybeth Bolin allowed for a duet with Brucker that involved singing and sound. An earlier version of Unravel was also held on the campus at the Thomas P. Kelly Gallery for The Purpose of Being exhibition curated by Ronald Lopez. Photo credit: Brian Forrest.
Unravel Czech Republic
During Brucker’s exhibition Hand-werk in Horaždovice, Czech Republic, a small town near Prague, she began combining installation and performance in collaboration with Art Mill and the installation designer, Suzan. Photo credit: Barbara Benish.
Unravel Massachusetts
Brucker was invited as a guest artist to the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she led students in a collaborative Unravel workshop and installation. Photo credit: Bill Brayton.
Unravel Pasadena
In 2010, Unravel was exhibited as a large artwork and public performance in the exhibition Stitches at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. The exhibition was reviewed by Los Angeles Times critic Scarlet Cheng. The group exhibition was curated by Sinéad Finnerty-Pyne. The performance featured Brucker with a female partner sitting opposite from one another while unraveling a garment that the other, in turn, knit back together. Photo credit: Kosta Potamianos.
Unravel Oxford
Teaching in Oxford and residing in a Queens College dorm room during the summer of 2010 prompted Brucker to engage in Unravel as a daily ritual for herself and as an inspiration to her summer art students. Photo credit: Jane Brucker.
Unravel Frankfurt
As a guest artist at the European School of Design in Frankfurt, Brucker led students in a workshop exercise where each student was given a garment or element to take apart and later install as a part of a group project. Photo credit: Jane Brucker.
Unravel Caylus
As an artist-in-residence at DRAWinternational, a centre for action, research and experimentation in art and design located in Caylus, France; Brucker spent a month writing, rearranging her studio, leading yoga classes for fellow artists at the centre and performing Unravel as a daily studio practice. Photo credit: Jeremy Wasser.
Unravel Bonn
Artist Naho Kawabe and Dr. Jeremy Wasser performed in Brucker’s Unravel at the January 2023 opening reception of de/cipher at gkg // Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung e.V. in Bonn, Germany. Kawabe and Wasser created vocals emphasizing the acoustic aspect of communication and the unmaking of meaning while the sweater worn by Wasser was simultaneously taken apart. Photo Credit: Philip Cremer-Bermbach.
Unravel Amsterdam
Jane Brucker performed Unravel at Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam, Netherlands on May 21, 2023. Brucker and performer Meghan Parker unraveled a sweater belonging to Brucker’s partner, Dr. Jeremy Wasser. Wasser vocally deconstructed in real time a song about words and creativity. Behind them is Gracia Khouw’s installation, EN SCHEPPEN – The Process of Creation. Photo Credit: Susannah Cremer-Bermbach.