Liz Collins
Occidental College's First Wanlass Artist in Residence
Liz Collins was Occidental College's inaugural Wanlass Artist in Residence. Her day long site-specific performance on November 6, 2013 was the first artwork brought to the campus through the Wanlass program. For her work, KN12 , Collins worked with Advanced Projects in Interdisciplinary Arts students.
Knitting Nation is a speculative series of site-specific performance and installation projects by Collins. For KN12 Collins and students worked to theatricalize the connection between body and machine, textile and space that is at the invisible center of globalized garment manufacturing. As the knitters sway in rhythm with their machines, the chromatic streams of knit yardage serve as architectonic scale drawings. In addition to the daylong site-specific performance, Collins’ two-week residence featured a new gallery-based temporary installation, Distancer-Pursuer, part of the artist’s zig zag fringe series; and a public dialogue with noted art historian, Julie Bryan-Wilson. The Los Angeles campus was the first west coast site of Knitting Nation.