It is with great pleasure that we publish the sixth issue of The Vessel - Modulating Craft. The issue is edited by the artists Pearla Pigao and Stian Korntved Ruud with the goal of using craft as a lens to delve into the vibrant and manifold world of performativity and sound.

Norwegian Crafts is eager to use The Vessel as a space for experimental artistic research and expression. “Performativity” and “sound” have, more traditionally, been descriptive words for art that works within the field of music, theatre, dance, and the general world of performing arts. Nevertheless, performativity is, and has always been, an important part of the crafts field; this is evident in the performing of skill and technique, shown in the different complex processes of craft-making, as well as within craft objects and the possibility of use, where the user is the performer, and the performativity is inherent within the artwork. An example that includes sound is the crafting of instruments, where the resulting use and sound of the instrument is thoroughly interconnected with the making and upkeep of it.

For this issue we wanted to look at how artists, with intention and passion, specifically work with and between craft, performativity, sound, and music. We invited textile artist and musician Pearla Pigao and craft artist and designer Stian Korntved Ruud as editors. Both are active and well versed within the space of sound and crafts, and will guide us through this diverse field, within this newest issue of The Vessel - Modulating Craft.

It was important for the editors to mediate the topics through the magazine’s layout and actively make use of the possibilities within the magazine’s digital framework. The result is an invitation to explore the editors’ creative process in their foreword, which has taken the shape of a moving mind-map. Also, to listen to Krissy Mary’s sound work, which accompanies both the front page, the editorial and this foreword, as well as an invitation to read about recent exhibitions in the Norwegian arts field that work with crafts, performativity, and sound. And of course, reading through artist presentations, and letting yourself be deeply immersed in the video works.

Thank you to our amazing graphic designers and programmers at Bielke & Yang, who have helped us make this issue performative. Thank you to our wonderful editors, artists, writers, filmmakers, and photographers who have given vibrant life to the issue. The Vessel is published by Norwegian Crafts and would not have been possible without the support of our backers: the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hege Henriksen
Director, on behalf of the Norwegian Crafts team