© Ladina Bischof
TaDA residency – Textile and Design Alliance is a cultural promotion programme jointly launched by the Swiss cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, St. Gallen and Thurgau. For 2024 residency program, the jury selected six candidates out of 290 applications from more than 50 countries. The residents work in Eastern Switzerland for three months and develop their projects in collaboration with TaDA partners, which include both innovative and traditional textile companies and institutions. I was honoured to be selected to do the residency during the spring.
TaDA（纺织品与设计联盟）驻留是由瑞士的阿彭策尔州、圣加仑州和图尔高州联合发起的一项文化促进计划。2024年度的驻留计划是由评审团从来自 50 多个国家的290份申请中选出的6位艺术家与设计师构成，驻留艺术家在瑞士东部工作三个月，与TaDA的合作伙伴（包括创新型和传统型纺织公司和机构）联合开发项目。我很荣幸地被选中，于春季展开了驻地的生活与工作。
© Ladina Bischof
My works include “painting”, “textile” and “pattern”. They influence and inspire each other, and together form a closely intertwined whole.
My residency programme at TaDA has given me an entire new perspective on textile, it also has inspired me to re-organize and restructure my perception of creativity.
During the first month of the residency, we embarked on an intensive and unique tour of textile factories and institutions in Eastern Switzerland, including visits to the Textile Museum St. Gallen, Saurer Museum, textile factories in different fields, and a number of specialized experts, which enabled me to learn a lot of things about how local textiles are related to and informed by weather, geography, history and society. I was particularly struck by the fact that the main collection of Textile Museum St. Gallen is linked to lace and the embroidery works that developed from it. During the visits and subsequent creation process of the work, many questions and interests aroses for me.
Was it the climate and soil that historically dictated the choice of the local population to grow flax? What is the connection between linen and lace? Why is lace so popular in Europe and not in China? What exactly is lace? Why do African markets favour European lace fabrics? How did Swiss fabrics change after the introduction of cotton? What’s the development of pattern in the local lace history? How did lace and embroidered fabrics develop and change after the invention and production of embroidery machines? How did the intensive trade relations between Swiss textiles and the African market affect the development and changes in local textiles?
我的作品包括了 “绘画”、“纺织品 ”和 “图案”。它们相互影响、相互启发，共同构成一个紧密交织的整体。
在 TaDA 的驻留项目中，我对纺织品有了全新的认识，同时这也启发我去重新组织和构建我对创作的认知。
在驻地的第一个月，我们开始了密集而独特的瑞士东部纺织工厂与机构之旅，包括拜访圣加仑纺织博物馆（Textile Museum St. Gallen）、Saurer博物馆、不同领域的纺织工厂以及一些特别的专家，这使得我了解了很多关于当地纺织品与天气、地理、历史和社会之间的关联与信息。尤其让我印象深刻的是，纺织博物馆的主要藏品与蕾丝和由蕾丝发展而来的刺绣作品有关联，而当地的纺织品贸易也与蕾丝有着密切的关系。在参观和随后的作品创作过程中，我产生了许多的问题和兴趣。
在历史上，是气候和土壤决定了当地居民选择种植亚麻吗？亚麻和蕾丝之间有着什么样的联系？为什么蕾丝在欧洲如此流行，而不是在中国？蕾丝究竟是什么？为什么非洲市场青睐欧洲的蕾丝面料？在引入棉花后，瑞士的面料发生了哪些变化？当地的蕾丝在发展过程中，它的图案又是如何发展的？刺绣机发明和生产后，蕾丝和刺绣织物是如何发展与变化的？瑞士纺织品与非洲市场之间密集的贸易关系对当地纺织品的发展与变化有何影响？
© Bi Rongrong
With these questions in mind, I interviewed some Swiss textile experts and mill owners to further my research. In the video I interviewed Martin Leuthold, a renowned textile designer, who told me about the history of linen cultivation in the St. Gallen area, the history of Swiss textiles, the relationship between Swiss fabrics and the contemporary fashion world, and his views on fabric innovation; Luba Nurse, head of the collection at the Textile Museum St. Gallen, who showed me some samples of early and modern lace and embroidery fabrics, recounted some of her insights into the history of lace, and gave me an understanding of what lace is and the basic techniques of lace.
带着这些问题，我采访了一些瑞士的面料专家和工厂主，以进一步展开研究。在视频里我采访了著名的面料设计师 Martin Leuthold，他向我介绍了圣加仑地区亚麻种植的历史、瑞士纺织品的历史、瑞士面料与当代时尚界的关系以及他对面料创新的看法；圣加仑纺织博物馆（Textile Museum St. Gallen）收藏部负责人Luba Nurse，她向我展示了一些早期和现代蕾丝、刺绣织物的样本，讲述了她对蕾丝历史的一些见解，让我了解什么是蕾丝以及蕾丝的基本技术。
To connect, to cut the holes, to draw, to stitch, to knit, to weave
连接、镂空、抽纱、缝合、钩针、编织
© Bi Rongrong
The bottom piece: details of a German in-progress lace, material: linen, brown paper, newspaper, ink on paper, 18th century 1.D. / 1690, collection of Textile Museum St. Gallen
The top piece: work sample, material: linen, cotton, paper, metal, after 1794, collection of Textile Museum St. Gallen
底部的棕色底织物：制作过程中的德国花边的细节，材料：亚麻布、牛皮纸、报纸、纸上墨水，18世纪 1.D. 或 1690年，圣加仑纺织博物馆藏品
顶部的绿底织物：作品样本，材料：亚麻布、棉布、纸张、金属，1794年后，圣加仑纺织博物馆藏品
Work series I: The North, The South
作品系列 I：北方，南方
The ongoing project The North, The South is the first series of works in which I try to express my own thinking, using metallic copper as the main material and combining it with textiles. One of the main reasons for cutting metallic copper comes from my imagination of the relationship between fabric and skin. My creation started when I tried to understand why Swiss fabrics are favoured by the African market.
“The tiny knife cuts of the scar patterns that used to be popular among Yoruba women as body jewelry are known as kolo. The raised patterns that were cut into the face, arms, hands and torso were emphasized by rubbing lampblack or charcoal into the cuts before they healed. This resulted in lace-like drawings on the skin, in which raised, blackened patterns alternated with smooth, shiny, untreated skin surfaces ”—Elisha P. Renne, Gemusterte, strukturterte und leere Flächen Eine Ästhetik der Textilien und Kleidung in Nigeria, from the book of African Lace: A history of trade, creativity and fashion in Nigeria 2010.
Yoruba women express their identity, social status and aesthetics by carving their skin before marriage. People pay a painful price for skin scratches, so this form of body jewellery is considered one of the most beautiful ornaments.
The cuts, the pain, the reflections of the raised skin, the texture of the cocoon remind me of the holes cut into the fabric and the patterns embroidered along the perimeter of the holes, and because of this I got a special feeling for lace fabrics, I feel the temperature of the skin of the body.
The metallic copper glows as if it were skin glistening in the daylight.
© Bi Rongrong © Ladina Bischof
© Ladina Bischof
© Ladina Bischof
South, North, Copper, Fabric, Skin, Embroidery, Lace, Linen, Cotton, Jute
These ten titles are the titles I give to each copper plate in progress, allowing each to tell an individual story.
Technique: CNC Machining, embroidery, drawing, silk screen print, laser cut
Support company, institute and person: Filtex AG, Saurer museum, GuoBo studio, Lässer AG, TDS Textildruckerei Arbon, Martin Leuthold
南方，北方，铜，织物，皮肤，刺绣，蕾丝，亚麻，棉花，黄麻
这十个标题是我给正在进展中的每块铜板起的标题，让每块铜板讲述一个独立的故事。技术：CNC数控加工、机绣、绘图、丝网印刷、激光切割 支持的公司、机构和个人： Filtex AG、Saurer 博物馆、郭波工作室、Lässer AG、TDS Textildruckerei Arbon、Martin Leuthold
© Bi Rongrong
Cotton
I combined copper and cotton.
棉花
我将铜和棉线结合在一起。
© Ladina Bischof
“For centuries, these two very different worlds coexisted peacefully. In the North, people wore clothes made of wool or linen; in the South and the East, Muslims wore cotton clothes.”—Erik Orsenna, Voyage Aux Pays Du Coton
“几个世纪以来，这两个截然不同的世界和平共处。在北方，人们穿羊毛或亚麻布做的衣服；在南方和东方，穆斯林穿棉布衣服。”—Erik Orsenna, 《棉花国之旅》
© Saurer Museum
© Bi Rongrong
It took 9 hours to embroider two Chinese characters: linen (亚麻). Embroidered from the Saurer’s Handstickmaschine, 1900
用 Saurer‘s Handstickmaschine 1900年的机器，耗时9小时，刺绣了两个汉字：亚麻。
Work series II: The Skin Jewelry
作品系列 II：皮肤珠宝
The on-going project The Skin Jewelry is my second series of works during the residency.
When I visited TDS’s silkscreen studio, I was struck by the thousands of screen stencils in the archive room from the 1960s to the present day. And most of these screenprints were created for the African fabric market.
There is a strong correspondence between skin and fabric patterns in the stories of Africans, which construct their “social skin” ( Terence S. Turner). I seem to breathe this entanglement amongst the stencils, which are sealed in time and dusty, and this is perhaps what drew me to engaged to this group of works.
I try to superimpose unrelated stencils together: they might be a combination of a layer from a pattern customised for Sudanese market, with one of the layers from a Moroccan garment pattern, and with a layer from a Malian fabric pattern. I seek and establish a correspondences between patterns, between patterns and fabrics, between skin and fabrics.
In skin jewelry, foreground and background are on an equal footing: the pattern is as important as the plane behind it, lace-like perforations (blanks) and patterned embroidered surfaces are equally important, raised skin scratches are mirroring the smooth skin. It seems to me that the surfaces of fabric, embroidery and screen printing share this same interesting perspective.
Technique: silkscreen print, laser cut, embroidery, tailoring
Company: TDS Textildruckerei Arbon, Filtex AG, Lässer, Tisca AG, Jakob Schlaeper
© Bi Rongrong
正在进行中的项目“皮肤珠宝 ”是我在驻留期间的第二个系列作品。
当我参观 TDS 的丝网工作室时，我被档案室中的几千幅从 20 世纪 60 年代至今的丝网网版所震撼，而这些丝网网版大多是为非洲的布料市场而创作。
在非洲人的故事中，皮肤和织物图案之间存在着强烈的对应关系，这构建了他们的 “社会皮肤”（ Terence S. Turner ）。我似乎在这些尘封在时间与尘土中的网版之中呼吸到了这种纠缠不清的关系，这也许就是吸引我创作这组作品的原因。
我尝试将不相关的网版叠加在一起：它们可能是为苏丹市场定制的图案中的一个层次，与摩洛哥服装图案中的其中一层，又与马里织物图案的一层的组合。我在图案之间、图案与面料之间、皮肤与面料之间寻找并建立有趣的对应关系。
在皮肤饰品中，前景和背景的关系是平等的：图案和图案背后的平面同样重要，蕾丝般的穿孔（空白）和被刺绣的纹样同样重要，凸起的皮肤划痕与光洁平坦的皮肤相互映照。在我看来，织物、刺绣和丝网印刷的表面，也同样有着这种有趣的视角。
技术：丝网印刷、激光切割、刺绣、缝纫
支持的公司: TDS Textildruckerei Arbon, Filtex AG, Lässer, Tisca AG, Jakob Schlaeper
© Giulio Gallana
Layered screen patterns–I was working on screen print at TDS studio.
层叠的丝网图案–我在TDS 的工作室中进行丝网印刷。
© Bi Rongrong
© Lässer
For the series of The Skin Jewelry, I have used today’s efficient industrial embroidery machine to add layers of embroidery to the fabrics.
在 “皮肤珠宝 ”系列的作品中，我使用了当代的高效的工业刺绣机。
© Ladina Bischof
I did silk screen print with Dogon old hunter’s chanting: With the sun’s rays, the day came and went, and the seventh genie coughed up 80 cotton threads, which were sandwiched between the maxillary teeth like the counting machine of a loom, and the mandibular beds of the teeth did the same, weaving the upper and lower planes. The upper and lower collars close and close, and the genie is stamped in a continuous motion, as the trade dictates. The threads weave and weave again and again, and from the ends of the genie’s fork-like tongue the weft is spat out in turn. The genie begins to speak. It uses a technique to give itself language in order to be understood. In this way, it demonstrates the qualities of material behaviour and spiritual power, or rather, the need for cooperation between the two. The genie recites aloud, and the genie’s words are woven into the cotton threads that make up the cloth, and the cloth is woven with language.— from the book Voyage Aux Pays Du Coton, by Erik Orsenna
我将一段多贡老猎人的吟诵用丝网印在织物之上：伴随着太阳的光芒，一天又来到，第七精灵咳出了80根棉线，80根棉线夹在上颌的牙缝间，就像织布机的算子，下颌牙床做着同样的动作，织成上下两个平面。上下领一张一合，精灵按照行业的规定，打上连续动作的印记。棉线不断地交织、再交织，从精灵那像叉子一样的舌头两端轮流吐出纬纱。精灵开始说话了，它使用一种技巧让自己拥有语言，为的是让人听懂。它如此这般地演示了物质行为和精神力量的特质，或者说，显示出两者之间合作的必要性。 精灵高声朗诵，精灵的话语就编织在棉线当中, 这些棉线构成了布匹, 而布匹就是用语言织成的。-摘自书籍《棉花国之旅》，Erik Orsenna
TaDA residency has helped me to open up some very interesting thoughts, my creations are some refractions of those thoughts, both of series I‘ve started to work on in part, and will continue to work on them over the coming time, and start some new creations as well. When I was exploring the history, the technique of textiles in north-eastern Switzerland, and when I was making some links with African patterns, it helped me to open up ways of looking at Chinese textiles as well.
I am particularly grateful to Marianne burki and Martina Lughi for their support and help, and to my fellow artists Giulio Gallana and Elisabeth Leerssen for their help in life and profession. Thanks to the support from the professional team of Filtex AG, Lässer, the Saurer Museum, TDS Textildruckerei Arbon, Textile Museum St. Gallen, Tisca AG, SwissFlax, and to Martin Leuthold for unreservedly sharing his knowledge and opinions.
TaDA 的驻留帮助我开启了一些非常有趣的思考，我的创作就是这些思考的折射，这两个系列的作品都开启了部分的创作，我将在接下来的时间里继续创作。当我探索瑞士东北部纺织品的历史和技术时，当我与非洲图案建立联系时，这也帮助我打开了看待中国纺织品的方式。
我特别感谢Marianne Burki和Martina Lughi给予我的支持和帮助，感谢我同期驻留的艺术家朋友Giulio Gallana和Elisabeth Leerssen在专业上与我之间的不间断地沟通。感谢Filtex AG、Lässer、Saurer 博物馆、TDS Textildruckerei Arbon、Textile Museum St. Gallen、Tisca AG、SwissFlax, 以及Martin Leuthold慷慨地分享他的知识以及见解。