Tootally Wired
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Working with the Manchester histories festival, Tootally Wired will deliver seven brand new live commissions based on the scarf and its social history, its impact on fashion over the last few decades and what its place in society is now, its significance to working class men through the ages who have always wanted to dress up and look smart yet look cool and distinctive too.
The seven artists who will deliver these commissions are
Emily Oldfield writer/poet
Nicholas Royle - Writer
Sarah-Clare Conlon – Writer/Poet
Gary Fisher – sound artist
Wendy Allen writer/poet
Tom Jenks – Experimental writer/poet
David Gaffney – Novelist, Graphic novelist, short story writer
The commissioned works will be performed live at Manchester Central Library as part of the Manchester Histories Festival and in addition to the commissioned pieces there will be a guided tour of the Tootal building on Oxford Road, writing workshops for the community who will be encouraged to produce pieces of writing about their own favourite items of clothing, and nine short films about the Tootla factory from the north west film archive will also be screened.
The themes will be wide and varied : the eastern influence on psychedelia, history of the Islamic patterns, such as paisley and the famous meander pattern, the musical movements the scarves were adopted by, the social history of textile production in Manchester and the north, the science of textile and cloth production, the way working class men’s clothes are signifiers of social class and aspiration, the environmental impact of the clothing industry, the important place classic clothing items have in up-cycling, vintage, charity shop, lo-fi and analogue culture, and the role of advertising and marketing in the development of powerful brands such as Tootal in a noisy market place.
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The seven artists who will deliver these commissions are
Emily Oldfield writer/poet
Nicholas Royle - Writer
Sarah-Clare Conlon – Writer/Poet
Gary Fisher – sound artist
Wendy Allen writer/poet
Tom Jenks – Experimental writer/poet
David Gaffney – Novelist, Graphic novelist, short story writer
The commissioned works will be performed live at Manchester Central Library as part of the Manchester Histories Festival and in addition to the commissioned pieces there will be a guided tour of the Tootal building on Oxford Road, writing workshops for the community who will be encouraged to produce pieces of writing about their own favourite items of clothing, and nine short films about the Tootla factory from the north west film archive will also be screened.
The themes will be wide and varied : the eastern influence on psychedelia, history of the Islamic patterns, such as paisley and the famous meander pattern, the musical movements the scarves were adopted by, the social history of textile production in Manchester and the north, the science of textile and cloth production, the way working class men’s clothes are signifiers of social class and aspiration, the environmental impact of the clothing industry, the important place classic clothing items have in up-cycling, vintage, charity shop, lo-fi and analogue culture, and the role of advertising and marketing in the development of powerful brands such as Tootal in a noisy market place.
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