the viral knitting project, part 2

after the digipopo conference, it looked as if the viral knitting project might be confined to the dust. however, it somehow turned into a chapter of my dissertation (actually my favourite chapter), and took on a life of its own. after the conference, i refined it a little bit so that the code red of the virus corresponds to the terrorist alert codes in the united states: code red for imminent danger, code orange for danger and so on. i will eventually work out the number of days each code has been in operation since the signing of the patriot act, and then the scarves will be knitted proportionally (i imagine that they will be primarily orange and yellow). i'm not sure though if each line will represent a day, which would make the garments about the length of an actual scarf, or if each run-through of the code red virus (in knitted form) would represent a day. the latter form would give the possibility of recording the performance as a duration as the finished garment would be many metres long, but it would also make it unwearable, which goes against one of the original intentions of the project.

in any case, the viral knitting project will be performed march 19 at a conference put together by the culture and communications department at york university. as i have to put the pattern together for the conference, i hope that i'll be able to distribute it, and hopefully the project will take on a second life - maybe over the internet, adding a second layer to the original idea of binary codes and internet communications.