You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry
Curated by Su Wu Opening 11 April 2025
Join us for the exhibition opening on Friday, 11 April, 7 PM - 8 PM, 161 Glass St.
Caroline Achaintre, El Anatsui, Hellen Ascoli, Yto Barrada, Diedrick Brackens, Melissa Cody, Negma Coy, Jovencio de la Paz, Josh Faught, Christina Forrer, Sanaa Gateja, Yann Gerstberger, Marie Hazard, Ane Henriksen, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Sanam Khatibi, Tomasz Kowalski and Alicja Kowalska, Candice Lin, Goshka Macuga, Christy Matson, Jorge Méndez Blake, Mai-Thu Perret, Sarah Rosalena, Analia Saban, Lee ShinJa, Kiki Smith, Mika Tajima, Clarissa Tossin, Consuelo Jiménez Underwood, and Miranda Fengyuan Zhang
Caroline Achaintre, El Anatsui, Hellen Ascoli, Yto Barrada, Diedrick Brackens, Melissa Cody, Negma Coy, Jovencio de la Paz, Josh Faught, Christina Forrer, Sanaa Gateja, Yann Gerstberger, Marie Hazard, Ane Henriksen, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Sanam Khatibi, Tomasz Kowalski and Alicja Kowalska, Candice Lin, Goshka Macuga, Christy Matson, Jorge Méndez Blake, Mai-Thu Perret, Sarah Rosalena, Analia Saban, Lee ShinJa, Kiki Smith, Mika Tajima, Clarissa Tossin, Consuelo Jiménez Underwood, and Miranda Fengyuan Zhang
Dallas Contemporary is pleased to present You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry, a group exhibition bringing together thirty artists, and opening 11 April 2025. Organized by Mexico-based curator Su Wu, the exhibition is at once a taxonomical examination and categorical collapse, offering extended engagement with tapestry while reflecting how contemporary artists have magnified and challenged the material, ideological, and narrative conventions of the age-old medium.
Expanding on a recent spate of exhibitions featuring historical textile works, You Stretched Diagonally Across It presents contemporary tapestry as an active inflection point for unresolved inquiries into the human condition: including notions of tradition and authenticity, durational effort in the face of technological mediation, and depictions of vastness and omniscience in physical form.
To accompany the exhibition, Los Angeles-based vintage textile library and shop Kneeland Co. will take over and activate the Dallas Contemporary store, featuring specially designed ceramics, textiles, jewelry, and collectibles, for sale exclusively in the shop. All pieces are specially designed for and inspired by You Stretched Diagonally Across It, and will even include works by artists featured in the exhibition.
Caroline Achaintre, Seeker, 2024. Hand tufted wool. 98 ⅜ × 65 ¾ inches. Courtesy the Artist and Art: Concept, Paris. Photo by Annabel Elston.
El Anatsui, Topos, 2012. © El Anatsui. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Portrait of Su Wu by Ana Fernandez Laframboise
Su Wu is a writer and independent curator based in Mexico City, examining forms and concepts drawn from the history of art and design to investigate premises of utility, capability, and need. Across commissions, collaborations, and curatorial projects, she among the leading advocates in a new generation of curators of post-disciplinary art, applying taxonomical interrogation and sympathy for elision to an emerging field of discourse and practice at the intersection of art, craft, design, and architecture, while considering the conditions and strategies that turn one into another.
Recent curatorial projects include Elementos Vitales: Ana Mendieta in Oaxaca (2021) with MASA, the first presentation of the Cuban-American artist’s “Silueta” filmworks in Oaxaca, Mexico, the place where they were made, presented with commissioned seating installations and resting places by Latin American artists and architects; and Intervención/Intersección (2022) at Rockefeller Center, New York, a multi-site survey of 100 years of Mexican art and design focusing on lost works, unrealized projects, and historical rehabilitation. Su Wu is an art editor for n+1, and her writing has appeared widely in exhibition catalogues and periodicals. She is an ongoing consultant for the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program, where she authored the monograph for the permanent collection installed at NATO Headquarters, Brussels. Honors include a 2023 Graham Foundation Grant, the 2022 Nasher Prize Dialogue, and a 2012 Getty Arts Writing Fellowship.
Kneeland Co. featuring fabric work on the wall by Blair Saxon-Hill, ceramic vessel by Chelsea Beck, and a ceramic swan by Claudia Rankin. Photo: Tyler Whiteside.
Kneeland Co. was founded in 2010 by Joanna Williams as a framework for sharing her ever evolving collection of discoveries and inspirations. Now headquartered in Los Angeles, Kneeland Co.’s services are categorized along four avenues; as a textile archive, a brick and mortar retail store, an online store, and an advisory service. As a thoughtfully assembled textile archive, Kneeland Co. offers designers inspiration for developing their collections, operating in a business-to-business capacity. Reflecting her extensive travels, the store focuses on one-of-a-kind, globally sourced home goods, jewelry, and art, celebrating the unique history and significance of each piece. With regard to advising, drawing on the expertise of over a decade working in fashion, textiles and interiors, Kneeland Co. offers specially tailored visions for the enhancement of both residential and commercial spaces.
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This exhibition is generously supported by Pace Gallery; Catalina Gonzalez Jorba + Santiago Jorba; Dr. Rodger Kobes + Michael Keller; Ann + John McReynolds; Jill Parker + Rod Sager; Yola Mezcal; and SWOON, the studio.
Header image credits:
Mika Tajima, Negative Entropy (Deep Brain Stimulation, Yellow, Full Width, Exa), 2024 cotton, polyester, nylon, aluminum, and wood. 135" × 204-3/8" × 2-3/4" (342.9 cm × 519.1 cm × 7 cm) © Mika Tajima, courtesy of Pace Gallery. Photographer: Charles Benton.