Wolfgang Tant
The Sock Puppet Screaming Choir & The Craftivist Analmanac Vol. 1

Artist and designer Wolfgang Tant moves fluidly between craft, performance, and activism. From sock puppets to patchwork tents, his work creates open spaces where collective practice, reflection, and resistance come together. Rooted in both personal history and political urgency, Tant’s projects embody an ongoing dialogue between individual creation and shared experience.

His graduation project, The Sock Puppet Screaming Choir & The Craftivist Analmanac Vol. 1, is presented in two colorful patchwork tents.

The Sock Puppet Screaming Choir was a collective effort in which Tant and six participants (Plien Leroy, Querida Buelens, Sophie Bertam, Trui Van Landuyt, Zora De Dreu and Maryam Beigi) researched how to perform together as a screaming group of sock puppets. The sock puppets became a way to come together and air grievances, and find an activist and collect voice. Next to its primary function, the sessions turned into the a testing ground for the development of collaborative tools.

The Craftivist Analmanac (read: Craft+Activist and Anarchist+Almanac) serves as an accompanying document in which the reader follows the steps taken within the bound of the screaming choir. The document also contains all the tools that were developed within their time together.

The sessions of the screaming choir took place in the two tents made by Tant. The larger tent has been in progress since the very beginning of Tant’s studies at KASK & Conservatorium.

Now, together with its smaller counterpart they form an intriguing site which you want to explore. Once ‘inside’ you get to experience how it turned into a space for gatherings and collective performances, serving as both sculpture and tool. The same principle applies to his other pieces, like the sock puppets, the Analmanac, and the knitting patterns included inside.

His works connect and complement one another while remaining open source. Inspired by communities both online and in real life Tant recollects the steps The Sock Puppet Screaming Choir took together; for others to replicate. According to him: “I try to break down the barriers of entry”. As the name suggests, The Sock Puppet Screaming Choir was a place to release and let go. The Craftivist Analmanac serves as an interpretation of the almanac format in which he shares the collective findings.

Knitting and crafting however have always been a grounding practice for Tant, those became a process of reflection and a way to connect his personal need for making with a collective need for resistance. Through making with and for others he finds the power and resilience for resistance. Although collective practice can be draining, especially for the facilitator, “Craft generates a different kind of excitement,” Tant explains. “It feeds into the individual work, and the individual work feeds back into the collective practice.” The power of the project lays in its way of creating these loops of regenerative energy for defiance.

Activism has always been a crucial part of his life. At the age of twelve, he was already protesting in front of Antwerp’s city hall, standing against cuts to child services. Today, he continues to advocate for many causes, with a recent focus on Palestine. This project however is really an in depth look in how to connect craft with activism. “At times the weight and enormity the terrible things happening at the moment is paralyzing, making somehow feels like the only way through that feeling of powerlessness.”

Looking ahead, Tant wants to explore power: how it is held and withheld across generations, and how it connects to crafts. He is particularly intrigued by how knitting mirrors activist knowledge transfers, as both are passed down, remembered, and practiced through generations. The insights and knowledge that form the foundation of the project are built upon the insights and knowledge of so many activists, knitters and crafters before him, that this remains a site which needs deeper exploration. “There’s both an older generation of knitters and of an older generation of activists, I’m curious who lives in that overlap and what knowledge they hold,” Tant says.

“My first instinct is to make something that’s open source, that people can use—something that’s not just for me.” With that, Tant will continue creating collective pieces that evolve over time.

Please enjoy a sneak peek of the last chapter of The Craftivist Analmanac:

To come full circle and express my appreciation for the best activist sock puppet choir in the northern hemisphere, I decided to design and knit a sock puppet for each member of the group. While designing, I was guided by the impulses they brought to the group as individuals.

It is quite important to me to present this part of the project in this way, because although we may not have arrived at a completely finished performance, we did take all the steps necessary to be able to do so together. I believe that in the future, when the need arises, we will be able to come together again to use these tools for causes we consider important.

The handmade sock puppets are an investment of my time that connects us even further as a collective. Moreover, I hope that as shareable patterns, they will be a gateway for others to connect with these wonderful characters.

When I think about our next collective step, I hope for a moment when one of us sends a message to reactivate our collective calling.

For now, I mainly hope that you, as a reader, feel that you have insight into how we, with the sock puppet choir, came together, and which tools helped us all to connect, dream and act.

All tools, knitting and sewing patterns in this publication are free to use, and I hope you will share your own findings, experiences, adjustments and additions so that we, as activists, can increasingly find our way to that new pillar of gentleness and regenerativity. So that we can push the world in a more pleasant, equal and sustainable direction with greater impact, energy and care.

Thank you for reading along.