Elif Saydam, Saving Nine: Kunsthal Thy, Thy, DK

Saving Nine begins with a rust-dyed imprint of Kunsthal Thy’s roof on canvas. It is the basis of Elif Saydam’s invitation for collective labor. The exhibition will undergo several transformations and result in a collaborative artwork: Under the artist's guidance visitors will stitch, dye and cut together; banners will be transformed into quilts during communal sessions. The final artwork will remain at the institution. In Saving Nine, Elif Saydam explores decoration not as excess, but as devoted, time-consuming labor. Often often-looked and even reviled as feminine or oriental, the repetitive acts of stitching and adjusting are reimagined as ways of being together. Stitching here is literal and symbolic: a process of mending and connecting – with the materials and the community. Saydam embraces shared craft practices as a politics rooted in care and restoration.