WWW is a collective of artists who use public space for learning through interaction and production. ‘What we will’ was a slogan used by various 19th century labour movements as part of the social struggle to reduce working hours. One specific proposal consisted of the partitioning of days into 3 equal parts of 8 hours: designated for work, for rest and for ‘free time’ or indeed “time to do what we will”. We adopted this motto as we aim to collectively re-evaluate the meaning of work in the current socio-economic conditions. WWW’s current focus is on the process of felting and the possibilities for felted rugs to serve as a platform to generate activities, stories or ideas. The nature of such rugs, both produced and subsequently used on the ground, underlines our horizontal organisational structure. The slow processes stimulate conversation and working in public space allows for coincidental encounters. Group-learning, skill-sharing and other types of informal exchange were the foundations of our collective. We started when a farmer offered a large quantity of wool in exchange for help with the harvesting of apples at his orchard. Indeed, the wool we collect and use is generally considered a waste product in a Central-European context. We gathered to clean, dye and felt this first batch of wool, and as work progressed more people expressed interest to participate.
WWW’s intention is by no means restrictive in terms of materials or techniques, but for the time being we decided to continue exploring the potential felting processes hold as there is much more beyond the mere processes or histories of carpet making. Can traditional techniques continue to be relevant through their potential as communal activities? Can they be re-interpreted and adapted to contemporary public spaces? How can public space be reclaimed as work space? What tools are available and what still needs inventing? What does it mean to do things slowly? We search for answers through practising, and like to deepen our understanding of the significance of labour and commonality in the urban context.
What We Will currently are Sigurrós Bjornsdottir, Anisa El Margai, Marianne Borremans, Tine Colen, Leander Sebrechts, Jan van Goethem, Inès Ballesteros, Nele Tas, Wouter Van der Hallen and Bernadette Zdrazil
