Fabrics in Motion
Interdisciplinary Conference in Cologne, DE
31.05. - 02.06.2022

The interdisciplinary conference “Fabrics in Motion. Mediality and Materiality of Textiles in Early 20th Century Film and Media Culture” will take place from May 31 – June 2, 2022 at the University of Cologne. It is organized by the Chair of Art and Media History of Visual Media: Junior Professor Dr. Kristina Koehler, M.A. Bianka-Isabell Scharmann & M.A. Pia Bornus, Institute for Media Culture and Theater & Art History Institute of the University of Cologne.

A billowing skirt hem, waving veils, the flapping of a sail in the wind: especially in early films, moving materials are often exhibited as independent showpieces. Film screenings also offered themselves as places for a special knowledge of materials – for example, when the use of slow motion made it obvious that chiffon silk moved differently than coarsely woven cotton fabric; when the little hairs of a fur collar, moved by a breeze, seemed to stand out almost haptically in the close-up.
The conference gets to the bottom of these phenomena.

Conference programme: