The Red Thread

The Red Thread is a monumental new production and limited ephemeral performance created by Kerry Guinan with an international team of collaborators. It will take place May 4th - 10th at The Complex Gallery, Dublin as part of the ‘Art Factory’ programme.
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For 6 performances only, from 8am - 1.30pm, an installation of industrial sewing machines will be activated live in The Complex. The kinetic installation appears to be self-operating, but there are puppeteers in hiding. Over 8,000 kilometres away, in Bengaluru, India, workers in a textiles factory press upon the foot pedals of their sewing machines. Their incidental choreography is reproduced precisely - and in real time - by the installation in The Complex, with the support of original networked technology. The resulting performative installation overcomes vast distances to facilitate moments of human encounter between people at opposite ends of supply chains, making visceral the extraordinary scale, and underlying humanity, of the globalised economy. This unique live event takes place over six days and is never to be restaged. Please take note of the special gallery opening hours (from 8am - 1.30pm daily), which are congruent with the working hours of the participating textile workers in Bengaluru.

Undoubtedly her most ambitious and sophisticated work to date, The Red Thread is a development of Guinan’s consistent concerns for social relations hidden at the base of the economy. The feat of producing the work has entailed its own set of social relations, which are explored in an accompanying film by Anthony O’Connor. In executing her vision across continents and cultures, The Red Thread sees Guinan demonstrate the surprising capacity people have to interfere with the colossal and seemingly immutable systems we find ourselves in.