How yarn bombing grew into a worldwide movement | Magda Sayeg

Translator: Nika Kotnik Reviewer: Matej Divjak

I'm a textile artist

Sem tekstilna umetnica,

most widely known for starting the yarn bombing movement.

najbolj znana po tem, da sem začela gibanje bombardiranja s prejo.

Yarn bombing is when you take knitted or crocheted material

To je, ko vzameš naštrikan ali nakvačkan material

out into the urban environment, graffiti-style --

v urbano okolje, v stilu grafitov -

or, more specifically,

ali, bolj natančno,

without permission and unsanctioned.

brez dovoljenja in nekaznovano.

But when I started this over 10 years ago,

A ko sem s tem začela pred desetimi leti,

I didn't have a word for it,

za to nisem imela besed.

I didn't have any ambitious notions about it,

Nisem imela nobenih ambicij o tem,

I had no visions of grandeur.

nobenih vizij o mogočnosti.

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

Vse, kar sem želela, je bilo videti nekaj toplega in puhastega in človeškega

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

na hladni, jekleni, sivi fasadi, ki sem jo gledala vsak dan.

So I wrapped the door handle.

Pa sem ovila kljuko od vrat.

I call this the Alpha Piece.

Temu pravim Alpha del.

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

Nisem vedela, da bo ta mali košček spremenil tok mojega življenja.

So clearly the reaction was interesting.

Reakcija je bila torej zanimiva.

Vznemirila me je in pomislila sem, "Kaj še lahko storim?"

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

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

Bi lahko v javnosti naredila nekaj, kar bi izzvalo podobno reakcijo?

So I wrapped the stop sign pole near my house.

Tako sem ovila drog stop znaka blizu moje hiše.

The reaction was wild.

Reakcija je bila divja.

People would park their cars

Ljudje so parkirali svoje avtomobile

and get out of their cars and stare at it,

in šli ven in strmeli vanj,

and scratch their heads and stare at it,

se praskali po glavah in strmeli vanj,

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

ga slikali, se slikali zraven,

and all of that was really exciting to me

in vse to se mi je zdelo res vznemirljivo

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

in hotela sem to narediti na vsakem stop znaku v soseski.

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

In več kot sem jih naredila, močnejši je bil odziv.

So at this point I'm smitten.

Na tej točki sem očarana.

I'm hooked.

Zasvojena.

This was all seductive.

Bilo je vse tako zapeljivo.

I found my new passion

Našla sem novo strast

and the urban environment was my playground.

in urbano okolje je postalo moje igrišče.

So this is some of my early work.

Tu je nekaj mojih zgodnjih del.

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

Zelo me je zanimala ta ideja o izboljšanju navadnega,

the mundane, even the ugly,

dolgočasnega, celo grdega,

and not taking away its identity or its functionality

brez da bi mu vzela identiteto ali uporabnost

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

in mu samo dala dobro krojeno naštrikano obleko.

And this was fun for me.

In bilo je zabavno.

It was really fun to take inanimate objects

Res je bilo zabavno vzeti nežive predmete

and have them come to life.

in jih oživiti.

So ...

Torej...

I think we all see the humor in this,

Mislim, da vsi vidimo, kaj je smešnega,

but --

ampak -

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Bila sem na točki, ko sem želela to vzeti resno.

I wanted to analyze it.

Želela sem to analizirati.

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

Želela sem vedeti, zakaj prevzema moje življenje,

why I was passionate about it,

zakaj je to moja strast,

why were other people reacting so strongly to it.

zakaj so imeli drugi na to tako močno reakcijo.

And I realized something.

Nato sem nekaj ugotovila.

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

Vsi živimo v tem hitrem, digitalnem svetu,

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

a še vedno hrepenimo in si želimo nečesa, s čimer bi se povezali.

I think we've all become desensitized

Menim, da smo postali neobčutljivi

by our overdeveloped cities that we live in,

zaradi preveč razvitih mest, v katerih živimo,

and billboards and advertisements,

in reklamnih panojev in oglasov

and giant parking lots,

in velikanskih parkirišč

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

in se niti ne pritožujemo več.

So when you stumble upon

Ko naletiš na drog stop znaka ovitega v pletenje

a stop sign pole that's wrapped in knitting

and it seems so out of place

in se zdi tako nenavadno

and then gradually -- weirdly --

in nato postopoma - začuda -

you find a connection to it,

najdeš povezavo z njim,

that is the moment.

to je tisti trenutek.

That is the moment I love

Ta trenutek obožujem

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

in ta trenutek rada delim z drugimi.

So at this point, my curiosity grew.

Na tej točki je moja radovednost rasla.

It went from the fire hydrants and the stop sign poles

Preselila se je s hidrantov in drogov za stop znake

to what else can I do with this material.

na, kaj lahko še naredim s tem materialom.

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

Lahko naredim nekaj velikega in širokopoteznega in nepremostljivega?

So that's when the bus happened.

Takrat se je zgodil avtobus.

This was a real game changer for me.

To je zame vse spremenilo.

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

Vedno ga bom imela rada.

At this point, people were recognizing my work

Na tej točki so ljudje prepoznavali moje delo,

but there wasn't much out there

ampak ni še bilo nečesa,

that was wrapped in knitting that was large-scale,

kar bi bilo veliko in ovito v pletenje

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

in to je bil zagotovo prvi mestni avtobus ovit v pletenje.

So at this point, I'm experiencing,

In na tej točki izkušam

or I'm witnessing something interesting.

oziroma opažam nekaj zanimivega.

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

Morda sem začela bombardiranje s prejo, a zagotovo si ga več ne lastim.

It had reached global status.

Doseglo je globalni status.

People from all over the world were doing this.

Ljudje s celega sveta so to počeli.

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

In to vem, ker sem potovala v določene dele sveta,

that I'd never been to,

v katerih še nisem bila,

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

in naletela na drog stop znaka, ki ga nisem jaz ovila.

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

Ko sem torej sledila svojim ciljem s svojo umetnostjo -

this is a lot of my recent work --

to je mnogo mojih novih del -

so was yarn bombing.

je tudi gibanje.

Yarn bombing was also growing.

Prav tako je raslo.

And that experience showed me the hidden power of this craft

Ta izkušnja mi je pokazala skrito moč te umetnosti

and showed me

in mi pokazala,

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

da imam z ostalim svetom skupen jezik.

It was through this granny hobby --

Skozi ta staromoden hobi -

this unassuming hobby --

ta skromen hobi -

that I found commonality with people

sem našla nekaj skupnega z ljudmi,

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

s katerimi nisem nikoli pričakovala povezave.

So as I tell my story today,

Ko vam danes govorim svojo zgodbo,

I'd also like to convey to you

bi vam rada tudi pojasnila,

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

da skrite moči lahko najdemo na najbolj skromnih krajih

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

in da imamo vsi sposobnosti, ki samo čakajo, da jih odkrijemo.

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

Če pomislite na naše roke, na ta orodja, povezana z nami

and what they're capable of doing --

in česa vsega so sposobne -

building houses and furniture,

graditi hiše in pohištvo

and painting giant murals --

in slikati velikanske poslikave -

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

in večino časa držijo daljinec ali pa telefon.

And I'm totally guilty of this as well.

Tega sem totalno kriva tudi sama.

But if you think about it,

A če pomislite, kaj bi se zgodilo, če bi te stvari odložili?

what would happen if you put those things down?

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

Kaj bi naredili? Kaj bi ustvarili z lastnimi rokami?

A lot of people think that I am a master knitter

Veliko ljudi misli, da sem mojstrica pletenja,

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

a v resnici ne znam splesti puloverja.

But I did something interesting with knitting

A s pletenjem sem ustvarila nekaj zanimivega,

that had never been done before.

kar še ni naredil nihče.

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

Prav tako naj ne bi bila umetnica,

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

saj za to nimam formalne izobrazbe - pravzaprav sem diplomirala iz matematike.

I'm a math major actually.

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

Nisem vedela, da je to možno,

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

a vem tudi, da nisem kar naletela na to.

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

Ko sem mi je to zgodilo, sem se tega trdno držala,

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

borila sem se in s ponosom lahko rečem, da danes delam kot umetnica.

So as we ponder the future,

Ko torej premlevamo prihodnost,

know that your future might not be so seamless.

vedite, da vaša prihodnost ne bo tako brezhibna.

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

In nekega dne boste morda tako zdolgočaseni kot jaz

and knit a door handle to change your world forever.

in boste napletli kljuko za vrata, ki bo vaš svet spremenila za vedno.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)