Additional Functions
In the Additional Functions section, I want to tell an additional episode which, of course, is connected to the knitting machine.
During my first visits to the factory, I noticed that the knitting machine, which I barely knew at the time, often made mistakes even in experienced hands, leaving holes in the fabric. It felt frustrating to throw away entire pieces of otherwise good wool. I began collecting the defective fragments, and gradually I built up a rich collection of holes. I thought they could be sewn into something useful, and I quickly decided to make balaclavas.
It became an experiment in finding value in /mistakes/ and glitches — a practical realization of the philosophical approach I am working with in my master’s project. Curiosity also pushed me to try working with a sewing machine for the first time, to acquire another skill that could be useful both within the collective and more generally in a changing and increasingly difficult-to-understand world.
It was the first time in my life that I had sewn anything.
I gave several of the balaclavas to friends, and sent one to Moscow for a fair supporting an alternative space, where it was sold to an unknown person for an unknown amount of money. I was happy to know that it had gone out into the world, and I thought that one day I would probably encounter it again.
Recently, by chance, I saw it in photographs from the graduation ceremony of the philosophy faculty at my university in Moscow. I started investigating, and eventually learned that one very brave person had gone on stage to receive their diploma wearing the balaclava. In present-day Russia, appearing on stage in my balaclava can itself become a form of protest.
And so the holes established new connections once again.