Industrial Folklore Tapes Vol.III - Film as Fabric
£15.00
-Created by Mary Stark
-Ten-inch record in gatefold sleeve
-Twelve page black and white machine sewn booklet
-16mm black and white patterned fabric photogram
-Limited edition of 250
The third Industrial Folklore Tapes release is constructed from live recordings of a performance tilted ‘Film as Fabric’ by Mary Stark, which examines relationships between textile practice and filmmaking. From 2012-2016, Mary’s studio practice and numerous performances took place in Rogue Artist Studios at Crusader Mill in Manchester, formerly a production site of machinery for the cotton industry and a garment works. The performance has been enriched by exploration of Lancashire’s industrial heritage and Mary’s family history, which includes workers in cotton mills and expert needlewomen.
The performance repeatedly involves sound in physical formats through optical sound, work song and recordings of weaving machinery on vinyl records, the amplified mechanisms of the film projector and sewing machine, and Mary’s voice. The performance highlights the now obsolete industrial practice of linear film editing and shows photochemical film as a sculptural reflective fabric, measured and worn on the body, cut with scissors and stitched on the sewing machine. Through the filmmaking technology of optical sound, fabric and stitch patterns are transformed into noise, referring to a lesser-known sonic world associated with textile production. The live recordings are from performances at Full of Noises Festival 2015, and in 2016 at Islington Mill, Manchester Histories Festival and Radio Revolten International Festival of Radio Art.
Side A – Film as Fabric: Film Performance Excerpts
Hello can I have the lights out please?
Film projector whirrs
In some ways this is a very personal artwork…
Unspooling film
Oh I was gonna sing a song…
The Doffing Mistress
Hand crank Singer sewing machine mechanism
Electric sewing machine mechanism
Puncturing 16mm film with the unthreaded sewing machine needle
Stitching film on an electric sewing machine
Lacing a film loop in the film projector and turning projector on
‘Stitched’ rhythms
Film editing rack rhythm
Side B
‘Stitched’ rhythms
Pitched fabric patterns
Film projector whirrs
Dub plate of recordings of industrial machinery at Quarry Bank Mill
The Doffing Mistress sampled from The Critic’s Group - Peggy Seeger, Frankie Armstrong and Sandra Kerr The Female Frolic 1972 [Vinyl] Argo
Applause