Jacquard looms inspire Barnaby Art commission

Barnaby Festival is working in partnership with Macclesfield Silk Museums on the headline Barnaby Art commission from Owl Project.

Owl Project is a collaborative group of artists working with wood and electronics to fuse sculpture and sound art.

Owl Project has been commissioned by Barnaby Festival to create a work inspired by Paradise Mill – one of Macclesfield’s silk museums. Their new work ‘Play the Jaquard Loom’ explores what would happen if you tried to connect a Jaquard Loom to electronic, sound-making technology.

Macclesfield was the most prominent silk manufacturing town in the UK and was home to around 70 mills at its peak in the 19th century.

Paradise Mill is located on Park Lane and has 26 restored jacquard looms. The wooden loom is mechanical and was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard. It simplified the process of making textiles, particularly those with complex patterns like damask, which were produced in Macclesfield.

Simon Blackmore from Owl Project, said: “The idea behind ‘Play the Jaquard Loom’ was to try and see how we could adapt a loom to become a musical instrument.

“The loom’s actions will be turned into sound and the punch cards will become a musical score. Jaquard Looms and the type of synthesiser we are building are both fiendishly complex, so the whole project is really experimental.

“We really love the idea of being playful about combining these disparate technologies and seeing what happens.”

The Owl Project piece is one of four Barnaby commission’s made possible thanks to a grant from the Arts Council England.

Alongside this, the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded a grant for a new project: Weaving Stories, Weaving Sounds, which will use film, sound, performance and exhibitions to illustrate the history of the looms at Paradise Mill and the town’s wider silk making heritage.

The grant will enable a programme of interactive and engaging visitor activities, after the Barnaby Festival, including tours, volunteering and training opportunities and audience research to help inform the future direction of the museum service.

Sue Hughes, Museum Director of Macclesfield Museums, added: “This project will support the museum’s ambitions for wider community engagement and to help more people better understand the rich heritage of the town.

“We are particularly pleased to have this opportunity to gain feedback from a wide range of people, some who will have never encountered the museums before, to help shape the service into the future.  It is great to interpret these fabulous collections in new, innovative and accessible ways.”

The Owl Project is part of Barnaby Art. This year’s festival offers an amazing array of more than 35 shows of contemporary art, all set in the historic buildings and bijou venues of Macclesfield town centre.

Artists from Macclesfield and beyond will showcase sculpture, painting, drawing, print, ceramics, film, sound and installation. Barnaby Art is headlined by a series of four site-specific commissions by the nationally-renowned artists Owl Project, Emily Speed, Hilary Jack and Mit Senoj, funded by Arts Council England.

The 2014 Barnaby Festival theme is ‘Industry’ and the artworks respond to Macclesfield’s rich industrial heritage, occupying historic buildings and sites in the town centre, and drawing on sources such as the beautiful silk pattern designs found in the archives of the Silk Heritage Centre; the pioneering Jacquard punch-card system used in the process of silk weaving, and the awe-inspiring hand looms themselves, which are on display at Paradise Mill.