World Factory is a new BICC-supported project that aims to explore the relationship between China and the UK – and the relationship of both countries to consumer capitalism, through the lens of the global textile industry. Textile production in 19th century Manchester provides the starting point for an exploratory process focussing on the rapid change underway in contemporary China. Professor Dagmar Shäfer at the University of Manchester is collaborating with METIS ARTS who are working with Shanghai-based Chinese theatre director Zhao Chuan and his company Grass Stage to undertake the research and development.
WORLD FACTORY – A CAFÉ CONVERSATION- Centre for Chinese Contemporary Arts, Manchester
Wednesday 25 February 2015 , 6.30 – 8.30 pm
Jasmine Suite
This informal evening offers an introduction to the World Factory project – an investigation of global consumer capitalism through the lens of the textile industry, from the heart of the industrial revolution in nineteenth-century Manchester to the world behind the ‘Made-in-China’ labels on our clothes today.
Four expert speakers with different perspectives on the global textile industry will discuss the relationship between production and consumption patterns in China today, and Manchester’s clothing and textile history, before opening up the conversation to the wider audience. There will also be a live demo of the digital World Factory shirt – with an opportuntity to trial our phone app to scan barcodes on the shirt – to reveal the people and processes behind how each shirt was made.
The speakers are to include Sara Li-Chou Han – researcher, designer and co-founder of Stitched Up collective
Amanda Langdown – Senior Lecturer, Fashion, Illustration with Animation at Manchester Metropolitan University with an interest in sustainable development
Tracey Cliffe – costume assistant, designer and organiser of a recycled fashion show at the Museum of Science and Industry
Lena Simic– performance practitioner, co-organiser of the Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home and Senior Lecturer in Drama at Liverpool Hope University
