CraftNet
An artistic research platform which enables the creation of craft maps of cities through participatory field research
Bilal Yilmaz, Lydia Chatziiakovou, Craftnet
Bilal Yilmaz, Lydia Chatziiakovou, Craftnet
Bilal Yilmaz, Lydia Chatziiakovou, Craftnet
Bilal Yilmaz, Lydia Chatziiakovou, Craftnet
Bilal Yilmaz, Lydia Chatziiakovou, Craftnet
Initiator(s)
Bilal Yilmaz, Lydia Chatziiakovou
Description
CraftNet focuses on revealing the contemporary potential of crafts, within and beyond the contemporary arts field. It is a digital research tool for creative minds and maker hands to explore crafts in different localities; a collectively created map that makes craft studios visible and accessible; and a platform connecting people through craft.
CraftNet is the evolution of Crafted in Istanbul, which was co-initiated by artist Bilal Yilmaz in 2012 and has been included in Arte Útil Archive. Expanding this initial project, CraftNet opens the mapping to a wider network of contributors (creatives, researchers, institutions) through a specially developed dynamic web app, establishing a participatory, transnational platform for craft research and collaboration. Thanks to the platform’s online research tool, participants can explore, document, and connect with local craft ecosystems and in the process discover crafts’ potential as an alternative methodology of making and thinking today.
Goals
CraftNet aims to highlight crafts’ potential as a contemporary creative medium, as well as their potential as a field for thinking about and building alternatives. Crafts are reintroduced as a methodology of engaging with the social and natural world, which subverts the capitalist notion of one-directional development and promotes a situated, solidarity-based way of producing, consuming, working and building communities.
Beneficial outcomes
CraftNet is a tool that allows participants to discover, document, and critically engage with craft practices. Each mapped studio increases visibility for crafts and encourages collaboration among artisans, creatives, and institutions. By contributing to CraftNet’s shared, evolving map, participants actively support local craft ecosystems and draw inspiration for their own work, both in terms of techniques and materials, as well as in terms of concepts and ideas. The current state and potential of crafts becomes a springboard for reflection on contemporary issues related to industrial and post-industrial systems, labour, consumption and production, multiculturalism, urban development, ecology, colonialism, gender etc. This feeds into approaches that are critical, situated and emancipatory.
Location
Turkiye (and internationally)
Users
Artists, designers, architects, makers, artisans, researchers from different fields such as sociology and urban studies
Maintained by
Bilal Yilmaz
Duration
2026 - ongoing
Category
Scientific
Pedagogical
Politics
Urban Development
Economy
Environment
Social
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