Stitching the Words in Motion

Collaborative textile piece / 3m × 3m / 2025

A collective textile artwork created as part of the lecture series Studium Planetare by Klasse Klima, co-led with artist Ivana Papić. More than 50 international students and guests contributed to the piece, which was realised during the summer semester 2025 in the UdK sewing workshop.

The work looks into planetary epistemologies through local ecologies, ancestral memories, and situated knowledge. Drawing on feminist and decolonial texts, participants traced the ecological wisdom we carry within us and assembled a living glossary that challenges static Western epistemologies — asking how words shift in meaning across languages, geographies, and times.

The 2.8 × 2.8 m textile is composed of nine segments that form a puzzle, allowing the piece to be reconfigured in different constellations. Up to 50% of the textiles are recycled. The words and their meanings are fluid not only in concept but in structure — a dictionary that can be endlessly reassembled.

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