About Cosmic Fluff
Through her weaving practice, artist Kira Dominguez Hultgren explores how the act of art-making can foster empathetic connections. She conceived her large-scale textile installation, Cosmic Fluff, as a response to social media’s role in the so-called “loneliness epidemic.”
Dominguez Hultgren defines the concept of empathy using the original Greek term “in-pathos,” meaning “feeling through something together.” For Cosmic Fluff, Dominguez Hultgren started with one massive piece of “fluff,” a raw sheep fleece, which she pulled apart, spun, and wove together in a process that acts as a metaphor for tangible, authentic, in-real-life connections. The artist suggests that, by working within a space of raw, honest emotion, possibilities for mutual understanding emerge.
Become the Loom! Participatory Weaving
Together, we'll feel our way through material that expresses contemporary metaphors: (inter)nets, webs, attachments, and digital community. What happens when these intangible expressions are made tangible, in tension between our bodies? Do we feel vulnerable, held, integrated, a part in a machine, or something else? Is this just a fun anachronistic exercise of out-dated tech known as backstrap weaving? Come strap yourself in and play for a minute or ten in this bit of Cosmic Fluff.
