The intricate detail and circular design of 2002 Turner Prize Winner Keith Tyson’s Gordian Knot, provided a complex challenge for ATW weavers in 2016.

The Gordian Knot is a legend of Phriygian Gordium, associated with Alexander the Great. It is often used as a metaphor for disentangling a seemingly impossible problem. In this design a central knot of fibres come together to form a modern day Gordian Knot—cosmological, mythological and sociological evolutions all being woven together as a reflection of the world.

To create this circular tapestry, a bottom edge was woven in to support the warp and removed when the circle was completed. In certain areas of the tapestry different weaving techniques including sumac and double warp have been used to create a three dimensional quality. The background colour is designed to recede into the display wall so the complex and colourful knot stands out.

After meeting with the weavers to gain an understanding of the process of tapestry weaving in 2014, Tyson stated that:

Seeing the fantastic work that is being, and has been done there, was both inspiring and incredibly humbling. The labour and intricate craftsmanship is just awesome, the results vibrant and arresting. After speaking with the weavers I think there is a real opportunity to do something striking and novel with the medium. I do not see this as simply a diffusion of my painting but a new way of making an object in its won right. The weaving together of the various strands, the strata of compressed time forming slowly into an image, all form a prefect conceptual fit with theme I have always been fascinated with.

Gordian Knot has been donated to the State Library of Victoria by Elisabeth Murdoch and Keith Tyson.

Keith Tyson is represented by Galerie Vallois, Paris and Pace Gallery, New York.