New Material as New Media: The Fabric Workshop and Museum

From constructivist textile and clothing designs by Aleksandr Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova to the soft sculptures of Claes Oldenburg and Louise Bourgeois, twentieth century artists have looked to fabric and other materials to push artistic production beyond the image and the object. Over the past twenty-five years The Fabric Workshop and Museum, an experimental arts laboratory in Philadelphia, has evolved into an influential contemporary art museum with a significant permanent collection, collaborating with artists to redefine the boundaries of fabric and other innovative materials including rubber, industrial felt, fiberglass, horse hair, hog intestine, and plastic as artistic media. This book, which accompanies a twenty-five-year retrospective exhibition from the collection, highlights more than fifty artists' projects.