Ahree Lee: Fabrication

February 13鈥揗ay 9, 2024

Ahree Lee鈥檚 immersive installation, Fabrication, considers the intersection of technology, labor, and gender through three components: TEXTILE 1.0, Binary System, and Tomorrow, Today. Each of these works explore signi铿乪rs of gendered labor encoded within 20th century modernist technological frameworks. With its 铿俛shing lights and modular design, the 铿乧tional domestic apparatus, TEXTILE 1.0, parodies the utopian mindset of mid-century design. Resembling both an early main- frame computer and an e铿僣ient kitchenette, the structure blurs the lines between domestic and industrial production and questions where social value is located. In Binary System, Lee projects digital code across woven panels, pointing to the shared use of binary code in weaving and computer programming. The Jacquard loom, for example, implemented a punch card system to dictate textile designs based on the interlocking patterns created by alternating warp and weft threads. Lee鈥檚 weaving practice connects the highly technical, algorithmic operation of weaving鈥攖raditionally considered women鈥檚 work鈥攚ith the role women have played in developing computer science. Until mid-century, computer programmers, operators, and software developers were almost exclusively women. Using clips from 20th century 铿乴ms and advertisements, Tomorrow, Today narrates the cultural representation and re-inscription of gender roles in relation to technological development during this formative period.

With its exploration of sociotechnical development, Fabrication asks us to imagine what an alternative future could look like if technology had evolved di铿erently in iithe 20th century. The artist proposes, what if 鈥渃omputers had retained more of their connection to weaving looms, not just the punch card, and the female domination of computer programming hadn鈥檛 ended in the mid-century. If those working in and controlling the technology industry had been from a wider representation of society, then would we have the tools and products that served more of our needs? Would the technology industry and its products be less intimidating and monolithic and more human and welcoming?鈥

 

Images:
Installation image of TEXTILE 1.0 and Binary System by Tatiana Mata.

Ahree Lee
Binary System, 2022
Nylon and cotton weaving with digital projection
72 x 72 x 15 inches
Courtesy of the artist
漏 Ahree Lew

Ahree Lee
TEXTILE 1.0, 2024
Various fibers, electronics, and digital video projection on steel structure
70 陆 x 94 陆 x 24 inches
Courtesy of the artist
漏 Ahree Lee