BLUE PRESENCE
2026 - Newburgh & New York, United States
Blue Presence was created for the exhibition CODE GIRL at the Pictorial Foundation in Newburgh, dedicated to the visibility of women in public space. Developed from a pre‑existing monumental piece, the work is largely unwoven in order to travel, then rewoven on site using sky‑blue Bergère de France wool, a recurring material in Barbara Christol’s practice for more than twenty years. This daily textile gesture, historically associated with women’s labor, becomes here a reversible act, in which the material returns to its initial state before unfolding anew.
For one week prior to the exhibition, and throughout the opening and the first days of the show, the artist rewove this transformed material by arm, reactivating the gesture within a new context. In the space of the Pictorial Foundation, the installation unfurls like a blue river, suspended and then extended across the floor among the public, echoing the Hudson River that runs through Newburgh and shapes the identity of the place. This fluid, non‑intrusive presence generates exchanges, encounters, and spontaneous assistance, asserting another way of inhabiting public space: active, gentle, persistent.
The project overturns the figure of Penelope: here, the artist becomes Ulysses, initiating the journey while the weaving matrix remains in Newburgh. After the opening, part of the work is once again unwoven and rewoven differently, while the other part circulates through New York for a series of activations in emblematic locations (bridges, benches, subway, the MET...) extending the narrative and questioning women’s visibility in the city.
Each activation leaves only a photographic trace, while the wool retains the memory of the places crossed and the encounters made. Blue Presence thus becomes a thread of circulation and transmission, linking territories, bodies, and stories.
IMAGES
1- Blue Presence, 2026
View of the installation at the Pictorial Foundation, Newburgh (NY)
In‑situ arm‑weaving
Oversized “Wahou Wool” yarn balls, Bergère de France. L 10 × W 4 m (≈ L 393.7 × W 157.5 in)
2- Blue Presence. Activation 6.
Brooklyn Bridge, New York 2026
Photography (variable dimensions)
3- Blue Presence. Activation 4.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir (Central Park), New York 2026
Photography (variable dimensions)
