Looming: Janet Swan, Scott Robertson & Liz Robertson will be presented at Queen Street Mill Burnley in April 2025

Looming is an interactive soundscape and performance originally inspired by punch-cards from Jacquard Looms. These were an early form of computer that gave cotton looms their patterns and instructions.

The work combines the hypnotic sound of these looms (recorded on site at Queen Street Mill, Burnley) and was also inspired by the ground-breaking poetry of local “mill girl” – Ethel Carnie Holdsworth who was herself inspired by the rhythm of the looms.

But now the whole project has been brought up to date with sounds made from the rhythms of contemporary everyday life, thanks to funding from Arts Council England, Super Slow Way and the British Textile Biennial, developed through a series community workshops which took place across East Lancashire during Autumn/Winter 2024. The artists are also working with Dr Dave Camlin, specialist in the effects of rhythm on people, and Helen Gould from LPM dance company plus students from Burnley College to create a striking visual element to the installation.

To experience an earlier version of this work please visit https://www.lancashiretextilegallery.com/exhibition/rhythm-of-the-looms/