Knot No.1
Cat 6 ethernet cable
Knot No.2
Cat 6 ethernet cable
Knot No.3
Cat 6 ethernet cable
Knot No.4
Cat 6 ethernet cable
Knot No.5
Cat 6 ethernet cable
Rowe is creating a series of Chinese knots, an ancient form of folk art that is typically made with fabric cords and is displayed as festive decoration. Using defunct cables such as ethernet cables, phone charging cables and wired headphones, she is transforming these discarded materials into hand knotted forms with the technique of a traditional Chinese craft.
As devices are trending towards being wireless, cables are increasingly discarded to make way for updated technology. Companies increasingly rely on proprietary adaptors which render previously held cables to be obsolete, forcing the consumer to purchase new ones, rendering cables defunct and relinquished to landfills. Both China and the US play major parts in this global circulation of commodity exchange. Through using mass produced material in countries with cheap labor and a traditional Chinese folk art technique, Rowe engages the physical and temporal landscape as a Chinese American reconnecting with her roots.
This exhibition is a part of Rowe’s project as one of the recipients of the Seeding Creativity award. Other components of her project include an artist talk on June 10th 5:30 - 6:30pm, and free workshops on Chinese knotting techniques:
June 17th, 1pm - 5pm at Axis Gallery East Room (no registration needed)
June 25th, 1pm - 5pm at Axis Gallery East Room (no registration needed)
August 13th, 10am - 4pm at Verge Center for the Arts (register here: https://vergecontemporary.org/classes/chinese-knotting-an-introduction/)
Artist Bio
The intersection of technology, personal history and consumerism is the predominant theme in Muzi Li Rowe’s work. Rowe builds cameras from optics taken from defunct devices and makes photographs via analogue methods such as wet plate collodion and slide film. To her a camera is simultaneously a tool, subject matter and material. Rowe collects vintage devices and obsolete technologies - the memento mori of a digital age. Handmade projectors, Kodak carousel projectors and magic lanterns are some of the vehicles for her imagery-based installations. Currently, Rowe works with various techno scraps, creating objects that criticize the ethos of a profit-driven consumer society.
Born and raised in Beijing, China, Rowe has lived in between Beijing, Sydney and Hawaii before residing in Northern California. Rowe received her MFA from University of California Davis in 2017. She is a resident artist at The Verge Center for the Arts and a member at Axis Gallery. Rowe is the recipient of Seeding Creativity, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Past artist residencies include The Wassaic Project, The Ali Youssefi Project and Vermont Studio Center. Rowe currently teaches photography at California State University Sacramento as a part-time faculty and also works as a freelance photographer under the name Eighteen Percent Labs.