Unraveling the Algorithm

​As a collective, we will weave with our fingers to unravel the computer through its textile origins. As we fuss and fumble with our crafty creations, we will reflect on the design, the algorithms and the power we have to change them.

​The technologies we use every day are often black boxes: hidden behind screens, written in non-human languages, and trained on vast amounts of unattributed data. As these intangible, alien systems quietly shape the world around us, it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine technology as anything other than a force of commodification and destruction, let alone something human and kind.

​So how do we grapple with this intangibility? We will pick up the loom and try out the processing work ourselves, together like little computers from the days of Katherine Johnson and the Apollo mission. We will settle in, chat, and pass the thread between us, in a nod to the fiber artists and weavers whose work inspired the creation of the computing field.

Come ready to be cozy to discourse and weave! Light snacks and drinks will be offered. All materials provided, including fabrics and a loom you can take home.