Textile made of interlaced cultures: Art and design for the valorization of transcultural properties

Abstract: Textile, as a flexible interlaced material consisting of a network of fibers and cultures, involves multiple significations and sensations, which make it naturally an object of artistic and design interpretations. Focusing specifically on Batik textile (or wax printing), the study explores not only its historical constitution related to the history of migration and colonialism, but also its contemporaneous conceptualizations from the art and design fields. The investigation will try to collect and localize in the indefinite multiplicity of data, those developments and interpretations that focus on its transcultural properties. In other words, the emphasis is placed on those points of view that explore the way in which migratory flows and colonialism may have influenced and transformed the practices of batik and consecutively the cultural identities of their related territories. Broadly, the research will try to show that the general understanding of this meaningful object is not immediately given but presumes the intermediary act of interpretation, which is relevant in the field of art and design. Starting from this purpose, the study will deal with questions such as: What impact does cross-culture have on territorial identity in the postcolonial discourse? How could international cooperation among different fields and cultures be generated? What can mediate the practices of art and design? And finally: what could enclose certain cultural items within themselves? Through these questions, the research wants to valorize a certain understanding and stimulate the development of reciprocal exchange and dialogue among different disciplines and cultures.