Julia Piccolo
Montréal, France and CanadaBiography
Julia Piccolo’s work focuses on the links shared by textile production, the decorative arts, architecture and computer technology.
Holding both a master’s degree in the fine arts (École supérieure des beaux-arts de Nantes Métropole — ESBANM, France) and a master’s degree in the social sciences (École des hautes études en sciences sociales — EHESS, France), she weaves the history of art and architecture together with media theory and feminist thought to create colourful and organic installations where paint, sculpture and digital video coalesce and respond to each other.
About the artwork
The installation, co-produced with Studio XX of Montreal (Quebec), consists of several sculptures and one video.
The aim of this installation is to reset technology’s historical narrative, too often male dominated.
It is based on what textile and digital techniques have in common as a means of thinking about women’s historical contribution to technology and, more specifically, the pre-existing feminine gestures behind the design of the Jacquard loom.
Weaving, assembling thread and painting are all actions that are ingrained in the patriarchal imagination as wells being integral to craft and women’s hobbies within the home.
The installation Glissement de compétences recognizes these practices, which are often rendered invisible, to highlight how they relate to the all still too masculine world of tech.