Embroidering craft and technological knowledges to interculturally enhance pedagogical and archival practices

Research oriented towards collective and participatory analysis of knowledge-practices of craft communities in Switzerland and Colombia to explore implications for digital humanites in the domain of education and archive.This research proposal is oriented towards the consolidation of cooperative scientific networks and common research agendas between researchers located in Switzerland and Colombia around digitization for craftwork; this is through experimental workshops (with researches and embroiderers) and fieldwork. The focus of these encounters will be questions about the ways in which craft knowledges and practices associated with the design of technologies can dialogue; this with the purpose of re-building and consolidating memory practices around local handicrafts in both countries, particularly craft textiles, as the calado embroidery performed in Cartago, Colombia and the hand embroidery done in areas such as St. Gallen and Appenzell, Switzerland. We will conduct exploratory workshops linking various actors with craft textile materialities and electronic elements, so that these encounters allow resizing relations between crafts and technology for the construction of collective memory. This project is a first step towards two main goals: the first one is the co-design and implementation of digital tools for preservation and innovation regarding the know-how of local craftwork communities; the second one is the shaping of a join research programme, involving the research group in anthropotechnology from Neufchatel, regarding possible developments in terms of digital humanities for craftwork.