Eleven propositions to the question: What is contemporary about craft?

Craft is contemporary because it importantly maintains its tactile, bodily component in the face of computer technology. It connects people in the flesh and provides a much-needed alternative to the incessant push of digital interfaces, mediatization, and screen culture. Current stitch-and-bitch circles or knitting groups provide a respite from onl

Craft is contemporary because it is progressive, because creating things by hand yourself proposes an alternative microeconomic of local making, a system of exchange more akin to bartering with its emphasis on trade and tactile connections to supply-and-demand. It is environmentally conscious and respectful of the earth's diminishing resources. Cra

Craft is contemporary because it is queer,  with its nelly yarn bombers and wild cross-stich faggotry and dykes who throw pots . Craft's queerness keys into interlocking discourses of pleasure, shame, disappointment, difficulty, exuberance, and community-building.