Fluid Dictionary: stitching the words in motion

Collaborative textile piece 3mx3m / Seminar Methodology / 2025 

Fluid Dictionary: stitching the words in motion is a collective textile artwork created as part of the lecture series Studium Planetare by Klasse Klima Where is the planetary? The artwork emerged from the workshop led in collaboration with the artist Ivana Papić and explored planetary epistemologies through local ecologies, ancestral memories, and situated knowledge. Drawing on feminist and decolonial texts, we traced the ecological wisdom we carry within us and assembled a living glossary that challenges static Western epistemologies, asking how words can shift in meaning across languages, geographies, and times.

More than 50 international students and guests from diverse cultural backgrounds contributed to the project, which was realized during the summer semester 2025 in the UdK sewing workshop. The 2.8 × 2.8 m textile piece, weaving together voices, stories, and ideas, is fluid not only in its words and meanings but also in its structure: its nine segments form a puzzle that can be reconfigured in different constellations, with up to 50% of the textiles being recycled. Amid climate crises and global unrest, this project stands as a collective call for climate justice, solidarity, and a more sustainable, interconnected planetary future.

Project lead and concept: Ivana Papić and Nika Grigorian for Klasse Klima
Realization team: Nike Gill, Tugce Kirkpinar, Manon Masquelier, Fatemeh (Ava) Mirshahvalad, Lola Perret, Mara Reiter, Lucia Schilling, and Jakub Wegrzynowicz
Project co-production and funding: Studium Planetare, supported by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre
Textile donations: Kleiderkiste Neukölln and individual contributions