The aim of this sewing workshop was to bring together in a creative and collaborative effort various residents from the city of Gdansk. These included personnel from the host site the “Batycki” Factory, residents from the Lower City, as well as artists and designers from the local design academies. The basic concept of the workshop was to parallel the activities of the factory in the act of sewing bags, however contrary to their designated upscale market leather goods, we used any “leftover” fabrics and transformed them into re-cycled bags for the new traveler’s bag.

The workshop was primarily based on the notion of women working (ergasia oikonomia), bringing local knowledge of old crafts and aesthetic values to this creative platform; allowing the anonymous local to become host and educator. In working together side by side, sharing material, ideas and engaging in social conversation, the participants of this fiveday workshop became a temporary community transforming the aesthetics of oikonomia from the designated “leftover” fabric to a designed new traveler’s bag.

The workshop concluded as the opening performance of the symposium: “This troublesome, uncomfortable and questionable relevance of Art in Public Space” held in Gdnask, Poland in November 2012.

text by Maria Halkias