Electroknit Dymaxion

Electroknit Dymaxion by Cat Mazza and Lattice20 is a collectively-created map of textiles patterns that trace global expressions of design and ornament. Patterns' origins and circulation are gestured on the interior of a 20-sided wooden structure based on architect Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Map. The wooden structure was placed at Columbia Point on Boston's Harborwalk, accessible to the public behind the JFK Museum and Library and was on view through July 10 through July 30, 2019. 

This spring and summer, Mazza worked with the newly formed Lattice20 Collective (Nia Duong, Maria Gonzalez, Remy Hunter, Erica Imoisi and Tony Pierre) to research grid-based textile designs found in Boston- based archives. They converted the charts into knitting patterns using an open-source computer application. Electroknit Dymaxion thus uses emergent and established technologies to map practices of collective craft across time and place. By mapping textile patterns found in Boston-based archives to spark contemplation, Electroknit Dymaxion helps us reflect on how we perceive and interact with geography, place, and identity and how it changes over time.

About the Artist

Cat Mazza is a visual artist whose combination of craft and digital media explores the overlaps between textiles, technology and labor.

Mazza’s work has been featured at the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the Museum of Arts and Design (New York City), Triennale Design Museum (Milan), Garanti Gallery (Istanbul), the Jönköpings läns Museum (Sweden) and the Milwaukee Art Museum. She has also exhibited at new media festivals The Influencers (Barcelona); Futuresonic (Manchester), FILE (São Paulo) and Ars Electronica (Linz). Her work has been noted in multiple publications including Artforum, Modern Painters, Art Actuel, the Washington Post and various books on art, craft and politics.

Mazza is Associate Professor of Art at University of Massachusetts Boston and has a MFA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.