the viral knitting project, part 1

at the digital poetics and politics conference at queen's this summer, i worked with a group to come up with the initial viral knitting project. the idea was to combine our four interests: knitting and activism, computer viruses, ad busting and design, and computer manipulated sound. we only had three days to put it together, and what we came up with was a riff on the idea of internet communication. essentially, we knitted the binary code of the code red virus - an early computer virus known for its virulence. we wanted the finished garment to be both comforting and threatening - a wearable, tradeable, portable virus. at the centre of the project was a video, with a still seen here - an endless loop of knitting with an eerie background complete with knitting needle glitches.
we also discussed the potential for knitting as a form of activism, its position between art and craft, between violent and non-violent protest. the calgary revolutionary knitting circle has been at the forefront here - attempting to separate the media-manipulated image of the violent window-smashing, cop-beating "anti-globalization" protester from that of the lived reality of activists. however, the potential of knitting as activism, also lies in its potential as an easily co-opted, commodified form of essentially useless activism. to this end, concordia communications prof matt soar created some wonderful magazine covers, aimed at jamming the jam - bringing the loop of knitting full circle. the video can be viewed here .