“Hisar Studies, Kumhisar”, Crocheted cotton twine, sand. 2011

 Statement about the work:

 “Hisar” is a Turkish word that means fortress or fortification wall. In common use, it also refers to rocky landforms that resemble fortifications.

Hisar Studies is a series of gabion constructions I have been working on using textiles as a structural and representational skin for rubble and gravel piles. The compressive load of the fragmented ground is re-organized vertically by the running bond, ashlar masonry pattern of the crocheted skin in tension.

Crocheted fabric, like a masonry wall, is built through a process of stacking one stitch-unit atop another (as opposed to some other textile constructions, which require a warp and a weft, a construction process more similar to framing systems in architecture).

Gabion masonry systems were first used in Europe as portable fortifications by besieging armies, who filled the baskets they brought with them with gravel and rubble from the battleground.

Bio:

 Firat Erdim was born in Izmir, Turkey. He has Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the Cooper Union (2001) and a Master of Architecture Degree from the University of Virginia (2007), which is how he became a member of the UVa sculpture community. He currently lives in Chicago, where he works on sculpture and installation projects, and teaches architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology.