Elena Lo Presti

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

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.

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.

The Great Pottery Throw Down  is a British television competition programme first broadcast on  BBC Two  from 3 November 2015. It is a contest in the style of  The Great British Bake Off  and  The Great British Sewing Bee , but with  pottery .

Participatory arts projects can also be empowering, and help people gain con- trol over their lives – sometimes, as with Acting Up’s work with severely disabled peo- ple, in a very practical sense. They can also play a vital role in the regeneration process, facilitating consultation and partnership between residents and public agencies. Arts