Yarn and Wires

The fabric artwork Yarn and Wires was first shown at the closing exhibition of the bangaloREsidency at NCBS. Every red line is cable, showing that internet infrastructures are intricately interwoven with the built world.

A closeup shows parts of the work Yarn and Wires. The work consists of a canvas with a print of two streets captured through the Satellite view mode of Google Maps with all internet and electricity cables visible in these streets stitched atop. The Map view is overlayed with photographs of what the streets look like, showing for example a house, a wall with a tree behind, and a tree photographed from below. The red yarn is stitched across the fabric, coming in and out at different positions, some of them near roofs, trees and electricity poles. The work was photographed while it was moved by the wind, and the lower edge is captured while it is wavy.

A photo taken during the opening night shows the work Yarn and Wires. The banner is about 1.5m times 0.8 m in dimensions, and has the screenshot of two streets as captured on Google Maps Satellite mode printed across. With red yarn, all cables in the streets are stitched atop. The work is hanging from a concrete bridge in the Southern Laboratories building at the National Center for Biological Sciences Bangalore. Below, plants in pots are positioned around a pathway that one can follow to move underneath and beyond the banner. The darkness in the background is interrupted by the lights of windows.

Yarn and Wires, 2024, Iz Paehr. 150x80cm fabric; Google Maps Screenshot, Red Yarn.