Art

CirculART – A Holistic Approach to Sustainability

The project CirculART is the result of 10 months of cooperative work by a group of companies that can be defined as representatives of the sustainable textile production chain, from yarns to the final product and accessories.

Those organizations have chosen to embrace the idea of sustainability and decided to evolve their businesses in an innovative and far-sighted way. Four invited artists have metaphorically inserted themselves between the warp and weft of the life cycle of clothing and turned themselves into an intersection point through which the public can observe the textile production processes, creating different attitudes towards the products we buy.

The aim of the project is to bring artistic research to question the different processes constituting the textile production chain.

We believe that the artworks which emerged from this project could have an interesting different point of view on sustainability in the textile industry: the artworks should be seen as a way to start a conversation about the relation between production and its various impacts – on the landscape and “local” communities, natural resources, production and labour in the global and local market, the usage of raw materials and the item of clothing in its symbolic value.

In the development of the artistic project, the four artists have investigated in depth the textile production processes, not focusing on a single phase but considering the meaning of sustainability in the whole textile supply chain: Starting from the use or reuse of raw materials like wool, wood, cotton, used garments and production leftovers to garment finishing and the production of accessories like labels and zips. They have engaged with people who – for each company involved – explained in detail the production operations, the use of natural resources like water, woods and pastures as well as the relationship between production and globalisation. The project is inspired by the idea of circularity, being a basis for discussion about the textile and fashion production. With the intention of making the importance of the supply chain visible – through the artistic thought – but also to question the role of the consumer.

Companies: Brugnoli Giovanni S.p.A., Filatura Astro S.r.l., Lampo – Giovanni Lanfranchi S.p.A., Lanificio F.lli Cerruti, Lenzing Group, Officina +39, Ribbontex S.r.l., RGT Ready Garment Technology Italia, Tessuti di Sondrio.