The Utopian Library was a collaborative exhibition highlighting thinking and research by KCAI students from the electives Hand and Machine Knitting taught by Marie Bannerot McInerney and Utopias taught by Anne Boyer. Along with texts and objects selected and/or made by students the library included a micro residency of the award-winning poet CA Conrad whose poetry has expanded the notion of the lyric to include the idea of the “extreme present”. This exhibition was in connection with the Hand and Machine Knitting elective’s involvement with The West Bottoms Reborn Project—a collaborative effort involving PLUG Projects, The Kansas City Design Center, and visiting artist Julie Schenkelberg, funded by an NEA Grant.
