How yarn bombing grew into a worldwide movement | Magda Sayeg

Translator: Anna Gamón Reviewer:

I'm a textile artist

Sóc una artista tèxtil,

most widely known for starting the yarn bombing movement.

més aviat coneguda per iniciar el moviment del ganxet urbà.

Yarn bombing is when you take knitted or crocheted material

El ganxet urbà consistiex en cobrir, amb material de punt o ganxet,

out into the urban environment, graffiti-style --

el mobiliari urbà, com un grafiti;

or, more specifically,

o, més especificament,

without permission and unsanctioned.

sense permís i sense ser sancionat.

But when I started this over 10 years ago,

Però, quan vaig començar açò, fa més de 10 anys,

I didn't have a word for it,

no tenia una paraula per a açò,

I didn't have any ambitious notions about it,

tampoc nocions ambicioses

I had no visions of grandeur.

ni visions de grandesa.

L'únic que volia vuere era alguna cosa

All I wanted to see was something warm and fuzzy and human-like

càlida, tova i humana

on the cold, steel, gray facade that I looked at everyday.

cobrint la freda façana d'acer gris que veia tots els dies.

So I wrapped the door handle.

Així que vaig cobrir el mànec de la porta.

I call this the Alpha Piece.

La vaig anomenar la peça Alfa.

Little did I know that this tiny piece would change the course of my life.

No tenia cap idea de que aquesta petita peça

canviaria el curs de la meva vida.

So clearly the reaction was interesting.

És clar que la reacció fou interesant.

It intrigued me and I thought, "What else could I do?"

Em va intrigar i vaig pensar: Quina altra cosa podria fer?

Could I do something in the public domain that would get the same reaction?

Podria fer alguna cosa al domini públic

i aconseguir la mateixa reacció?

So I wrapped the stop sign pole near my house.

Aleshores, vaig cobrir la senyal de stop propera a casa meva.

The reaction was wild.

La reacció va ser salvatge.

People would park their cars

La gent aparcava els seus cotxes, eixien d'ells per a mirar-la,

and get out of their cars and stare at it,

and scratch their heads and stare at it,

i es rascaven el cap i la tornaven a mirar,

and take pictures of it and take pictures next to it,

feien fotos i se'n feien al seu costat,

and all of that was really exciting to me

i tot allò fou molt emocionant per a mi.

and I wanted to do every stop sign pole in the neighborhood.

Desitjava cobrir cada senyal de stop del barri.

And the more that I did, the stronger the reaction.

I com més ho feia, més forta era la reacció

So at this point I'm smitten.

En aquest punt, estava enamorada,

I'm hooked.

estava enganxada.

This was all seductive.

Tot açò era atractiu.

I found my new passion

Vaig trovar la meva nova passió

and the urban environment was my playground.

i el entorn urbà va esdevenir el meu lloc predilecte.

So this is some of my early work.

Aquí poden veure's alguns dels meus primers treballs.

I was very curious about this idea of enhancing the ordinary,

M'atreia la idea de millorar allò comú,

the mundane, even the ugly,

allò mundà, inclús allò lleig,

and not taking away its identity or its functionality

sense llevar-li la seva identitat o funcionalitat,

but just giving it a well-tailored suit out of knitting.

només proveïr un bon vestit personalitzat fet de punt,

And this was fun for me.

i açò fou molt divertit per a mi.

It was really fun to take inanimate objects

Fou molt divertit prendre objectes inanimats

and have them come to life.

i fer que cobraren vida. Així que...

So ...

I think we all see the humor in this,

Crec que tots trobem això divertit però...

but --

(Riures)

(Laughter)

Vaig arribar a un punt en el què volia prendre'm-ho seriosament,

I was at a point where I wanted to take it seriously.

I wanted to analyze it.

volia analitzar-ho,

volia saber per què deixava que açò

I wanted to know why I was letting this take over my life,

prengués el control de la meva vida, per què m'apassionava

why I was passionate about it,

why were other people reacting so strongly to it.

i per què altra gent responia d'aquesta manera.

And I realized something.

I em vaig adonar d'una cosa.

We all live in this fast-paced, digital world,

Tots vivim en aquest mon digital, accelerat,

but we still crave and desire something that's relatable.

però encara anhelem i desitgem

alguna cosa en la que poder-nos relacionar.

I think we've all become desensitized

Crec que tots ens hem tornat insensibles

by our overdeveloped cities that we live in,

en aquestes ciutats súper desenvolupades en les que vivim

i amb aquestes tanques publicitàries

and billboards and advertisements,

i anuncis,

and giant parking lots,

i enormes estacionaments

and we don't even complain about that stuff anymore.

que ni tan sols ens queixem de totes eixes coses ja.

So when you stumble upon

Així que quan ens ensopeguem amb una senyal de stop coberta de punt

a stop sign pole that's wrapped in knitting

and it seems so out of place

sembla molt fora de lloc

and then gradually -- weirdly --

però després, gradualment, curiosament,

you find a connection to it,

trobem una connexió

that is the moment.

i aquest és el moment.

That is the moment I love

Aquest és el moment que m'encanta

and that is the moment I love to share with others.

i aquest és el moment que m'encanta compartir amb els altres.

So at this point, my curiosity grew.

En aquest moment, la meva curiositat va augmentar.

It went from the fire hydrants and the stop sign poles

Vaig passar de les boques d'incendis i de les senyals de stop

to what else can I do with this material.

a preguntar-me què més podia fer amb aquest material.

Can I do something big and large-scale and insurmountable?

Puc fer alguna cosa gran, a gran esala i insuperable?

So that's when the bus happened.

I se'm va ocòrrer l'autobús.

This was a real game changer for me.

Açò fou realment un punt d'inflexió per a mi.

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for this one.

Sempre serà el meu punt feble.

A aquestes altures, la gent ja donava crèdit al meu treball

At this point, people were recognizing my work

but there wasn't much out there

però no hi havia molt cobert en llana o fil a gran escala,

that was wrapped in knitting that was large-scale,

i acò va ser, sens dubte, el primer autobús de la ciutat

and this definitely was the first city bus to be wrapped in knitting.

cobert en teixit de punt.

So at this point, I'm experiencing,

En aquest moment, vaig experimentar, vaig ser testimoni de quelcom interesant:

or I'm witnessing something interesting.

I may have started yarn bombing but I certainly don't own it anymore.

Pot ser que hagi començat el ganxet urbà,

però ja no era de la meva propietat.

It had reached global status.

Era una tendència global.

People from all over the world were doing this.

La gent de tot el món ho practicava.

And I know this because I would travel to certain parts of the world

I ho sé perque vaig viatjar a llocs on mai havia estat,

that I'd never been to,

and I'd stumble upon a stop sign pole and I knew I didn't wrap it.

i vaig ensopegar amb un senyal de stop

que sabia que no havia cobert jo.

So as I pursued my own goals with my art --

Així que mentre jo perseguia les meves pròpies metes artístiques

this is a lot of my recent work --

- aquest és gran part del meu treball recent -

so was yarn bombing.

el ganxet urbà també.

Yarn bombing was also growing.

El ganxet urbà també estava creixent.

And that experience showed me the hidden power of this craft

I aqueixa experiència em va mostrar el poder ocult d'aquest art.

and showed me

I em va mostrar

that there was this common language I had with the rest of the world.

que existia un llenguatge en comú amb la resta del món.

It was through this granny hobby --

Va ser a través d'aquesta afició d'àvies

this unassuming hobby --

- aquesta afició sense pretensions -

that I found commonality with people

que vaig descobrir coses en comú amb gent

that I never thought I'd have a connection with.

amb la qual mai vaig pensar que en podria tenir.

So as I tell my story today,

Així que avui els explico la meva història

I'd also like to convey to you

però, alhora, m'agradaria transmetre'ls

that hidden power can be found in the most unassuming places,

que el seu pontencial pot trobar-se ocult en els llocs més inesperats

and we all possess skills that are just waiting to be discovered.

i tots tenim habilitats a l'espera de ser descobertes

If you think about our hands, these tools that are connected to us,

Si pensen en les nostres mans,

aquestes ferramentes que ens conecten a tots,

and what they're capable of doing --

i en tot el que són capaces de fer

- construïr cases i mobles,

building houses and furniture,

and painting giant murals --

i pintar murals enormes -

and most of the time we hold a controller or a cell phone.

la majoria de les vegades les usem solament per a utilitzar

un joystick o un telèfon mòbil.

And I'm totally guilty of this as well.

I jo també sóc totalment culpable d' açó .

But if you think about it,

Però, si ho pensem, què pasaria si deixare'm aquestes coses?

what would happen if you put those things down?

What would you make? What would you create with your own hands?

Què farien?

Què creiarieu amb les vostres mans?

Molta gent pensa que sóc una teixidora magistral

A lot of people think that I am a master knitter

but I actually couldn't knit a sweater to save my life.

però, en realitat, no savia teixir ni un suèter,

But I did something interesting with knitting

Però vaig fer alguna cosa interesant teixint

that had never been done before.

que mai s´havia fet abans.

I also wasn't "supposed to be" an artist

Tampoc se suposa que anava a ser una artista

in the sense that I wasn't formally trained to do this --

en el sentit de que no em vaig formar per a ser-ho;

I'm a math major actually.

de fet, em vaig graduar en matemàtiques.

So I didn't think this was in the cards for me,

Així que no crec que açò estigués escrit al meu destí,

but I also know that I didn't stumble upon this.

però també sé que no fou una casualitat.

And when this happened to me, I held on tight,

Quan açò em va pasar, em vaig a aferrar,

I fought for it and I'm proud to say that I am a working artist today.

vaig lluitar per això i em sento molt orgullosa de dir

que, ara com ara, treballo com artista.

So as we ponder the future,

Així que, al reflexionar sobre el futur,

sàpiguen que el seu podria no ser tan perfecte.

know that your future might not be so seamless.

And one day, you might be as bored as I was

I un dia, es posible que es sentin tan avorrits com jo vaig estar

and knit a door handle to change your world forever.

com per a ficar-se a cobrir en fil el mànec de porta

per a canviar el seu món per sempre.

Thank you.

Gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)