ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

Video of 490 houses installation at Gunzenhausen, Germany 4-5th June 2011

Knit Houses Installation

490 Knitted Houses, Lest We forget

An installation by the artist Stephanie Rhode in Gunzenhausen, Germany

Artist from Amsterdam stirs people from all over Europe into action for exchange of thought.

For two days the Market place of Gunzenhausen was the centre of an installation by the Artist Stephanie Rhode from Amsterdam. 490 houses with knitted facades were set up. In a very special way they brought back to life the memory of members of the Jewish community throughout time.

Rhode mobilised numerous people from Germany and other country’s all over the world to knit covers to form facades for simple miniature houses. These houses were set up at the market place as part of an intense operation lasting two days to bring back to memory the homes of former Jewish citizens to participants and visitors alike.

The installation, the knitting people as well as phrases from conversations between the artist and participants during and after the exhibition were documented in a book.

The installation continued to have an effect, even after the knitted houses had been taken down, because every house rested on a purposely positioned piece of gold leaf on the ground of the market place. As the remaining outlines of gold leaf, reminiscent of the houses, wore away in the everyday life of the market place, we were reminded that
something used to be there.

Text: Ingo Heizelmann

I knitted 2 of the houses for this installation and had hoped to be present for the installation in Gunzenhausen, sadly in the end we could not make that journey as we were in the middle of the process of relocating back to New Zealand.

I have been asked about a better photo of the sweater – sadly it was created way back in 1978 or 1979 and the photograph on the post was scanned into my computer a few years ago. The original photo is in New Zealand “somewhere” and I am living in the Netherlands so a better scan is not possible right now.

It is possible that there are other photos and maybe I will recreate the sweater as it was quite lovely and a fairly simple intarsia design. It would be reasonably easy to chart for someone else to recreate as well. It will not be high on my “To Do” list though as we are working hard on planning our relocation to New Zealand.

This week I have managed to have new passport photos taken, and I do have to go to The Hague to submit my application to the Danish consulate there in person – so I will do that soon. My passport will expire in July and we leave the Netherlands in the first week of August.

I have made arrangements with several relocation companies and to come and cost the removal of our belongings to New Zealand and I have a a couple of days in Maastricht as Best Beloved will be working there – it will be lovely to be there in the Spring.

In this next week I shall be sorting out stuff that we will not take home, and be placing them to one side so they are not included in the costings to get our stuff home. These will go to de Schalm later for them to onsell. De Schalm is a local “not for profit” business. Their function is to offer opportunity for unemployed people to learn skills that may assist them into work. The mainly youngsters learn to handle cash, take care of the shop, create pieces to sell either sewing, woodwork, bike repair, all sorts of practical skills. We have purchased odd chairs, dining room table etc from there to set ourselves with bits we didn’t bring from New Zealand.

I will have a very busy week.

Will I also knit in this next week? Yes, I will be working on my two knitted houses for the Stephanie Rhode installation and delivering those to her in the next couple of weeks.

Anything else – well maybe, we’ll see.

This weekend, WELL we had planned to go to Nieuwegein to the Breidag and Haakdag: the hottest event of the Netherlands! . There seems to be no train from Haarlem to Amsterdam where we can head to Utrecht and then to Nieuwegein and it has become a rather convoluted journey with several buses, trains, and even a tram. It would take us about 2 hours from here in Haarlem. And that Best Beloved has a heavy cold and has now pulled out of this days planned travel. We had wanted to take our bikes, but because there is no train from here to make connections from Amsterdam and we cannot take bikes on the bus and it is too far for us to ride yet, especially in the time we have today – we have decided not to go.

Such a pity as I had hoped to meet with Miriam Tegels, and maybe @PickledTreats would also have been there.

So I will wander in Haarlem instead – it is a great place to wander.

Best Beloved will rest.

Register your interest in this project here

Read about the project here

Stephanie Rhode – Artist

Last Saturday Best Beloved and I rode our bicycles to Ikea in Haarlem to meet with artist Stephanie Rhode.

Stephanie creates her art of ceramics, glass, metal, and sand; small and large, as well creating large and temporary installations. See 3,000 sand houses

Knitted Houses, Lest we forget:
Installation June 4 & 5th 2011 in Gunzenhausen, Germany

On the weekend of June 4/5th 2011 there will be an installation of 490 houses with knitted facades in the market place of Gunzenhausen.

Stephanie has mobilsed people from Europe including Germany and the Netherlands to knit the walls of the simple miniature houses and so create new homes for the displaced and forgotten lost souls of Gunzenhausen’s Jewish community. The white walls of the 490 houses will be delicate and translucent, ready and waiting to accommodate the souls. But the foundations will be solid, as strong as the determination of the artist to fill these houses with life, to present the forgotten souls with a shelter in the here and now.

The 490 knitted houses on the market square are to commemorate all the Jewish people who for centuries, had their homes here until 1934, 77 years ago.

A time to knit – a time to reflect. As if the knitting itself loops and weaves itself into our memory of the many men and women of Gunzenhausen who were once content to go about their lives within the Jewish faith, contributing to life within this little town on the banks of the river ‘ Altmühl’ . They knit themselves into memory; releasing the chains of the forgotten past with every stitch. So too, do they break the threads of false ways of thinking.

Stephanie Rhode has a way of making her artworks interact with us on different levels and this one does it too:

She says ‘‘My subjects are all about reflecting our present, about reflecting the society we live in. It’s an interaction between what I see around me and the response I get from my environment. The faster and more hectic everything is, the simpler and calmer my pieces are. It’s all about giving back, reflection and reduction. I’m always working with contrasts and opposites”.

Interaction is brought to mind in the knitted house project: between the artist, her ideas and the knitted objects on the one hand, and between the objects and the Jewish citizens on the other.

Throughout the installation, the artist’s knitted works tell of her view of the history of her town, her home – or simply stories about knitting. The different places where the events took place are vividly documented. The placement and display of the 490 knitted houses is another bridge is built: between the participants, those who come to view the exhibition, and the former Jewish inhabitants of Gunzenhausen.

The installation will continue to have an effect, even when the knitted houses have been taken down because every house will rest on a purposely positioned piece of gold leaf on the ground of the market place. As the remaining outlines of the gold leaf, reminiscent of the houses, will be worn away in the everyday life of the market place, we will be reminded that something used to be there.

Website link here

The installation, the knitters community as well as phrases from conversations between the artist and participants during and after the exhibition will documented and projected against a wall in pictures and quotations. There will also be photographic documentation about the people who have knitted for this art installation as well as the history of the former Jewish community at the Gunzenhausen town museum

Appeal:

Stephanie is looking for knitters willing to knit one or more houses or a house can be adopted for 100 euros.

Info Link to the knitted houses project it includes a registration form. I hope you join with this project as I have done. Stephanie will provide you with white yarn, pattern and a metal house frame.

Glass Houses

Sand Houses – installation

Why did we meet Stephanie at Ikea? Well I wanted to buy Swedish herrings and it is the only place here where we can buy them that we know of.