Devout/Divine - Fashion vs. Religion.

Religion and its visual externalization are high on the European agenda list of topics. Burqa's are already forbidden in Belgium and soon France will also follow this example. But are burqa's and other religious garments part of rituals or are they just pure aesthetic elements?

From the 26th of June until the 9th of January 2010, the Hasselt Fashion Museum becomes the place where visitors can explore this link between fashion and religion by visiting the exhibition Devout/Divine - Fashion vs. Religion. This exhibition will not show a traditional overview of historical religious garments and textile, but focuses on the relationship between contemporary fashion and religion. It emphasizes the integration and translation of religious symbolism in designs of the past decennia. A few examples of what will be on display are original interpretations of burqa's, a praying carpet transformed into a handbag, rosaries and habits remodelled as catwalk ensembles and haute couture nuns.

Devout/Divine - Fashion vs. Religion will be a compilation of creations of national and international designers and the exhibition examines how religion is integrated in their work. Rick Owens, Walter Van Beirendonck, Mada Van Gaans and Bernhard Wilhelm are just a few names of designers that will participate in this expo.

Devout/Divine - Fashion vs. Religion
June 26, 2010 - January 9, 2011
Hasselt Fashion Museum, Hasselt Belgium

Written for BLEND.

Proof.

Photography often gives you the idea that the photographer just got the shot by coincidence; just walking by casually and "click" the perfect shot in one fortuitous moment. This may be true in some cases, but most of the time the perfect shot takes a lot more energy, and most important, a higher amount of shots. The exhibition Proof of the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago tries to highlight this last phenomenon.

From July 16th till September 4th, 26 photographers will exhibit their contact sheets (proofs) alongside their chosen photograph. The contact sheet is akin to a diary. Few artists ever let the public see these, as it reveals their process and way of thinking. So, this show lets viewers see how the photographer's eyes framed a specific scene. Certainly recommended if you've always wanted to take a look inside an artist’s brain!



Proof
July 16th - September 4th 2010
Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago

Written for BLEND.

Week End by Alex Prager.

Adorned with wigs and dressed in seventies retro glamour, the characters of the photographs of Alex Prager explore American youth and pop culture in cinematic series that appear to have stepped straight off a 1950's film set. The women are staged in neon Californian landscapes, which gives a result of timeless, eerie and compelling images. "I am documenting a world that exists and doesn't exist at the same time." thus Alex Prager.

The Michael Hoppen Contemporary Gallery in London presents the most recent work, called Week End, by the rising American photographer till July 7th. Also her first move into film with Despair, a film written by Prager and directed by Requiem for a Dream's Matthew Libatique, is shown at the gallery.



Alex Prager - Week End
June 10th till July 17th 2010
Michael Hoppen Contemporary, London

Written for BLEND.

Recht voor zijn raap.

This summer, the Central Museum Utrecht in collaboration with the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, offers a platform to young and innovative artists. For this exhibition, the museum has selected visual artists, designers and architects, who have received a starter stipend for their work from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture between 2006 and 2008.

The works of 31 promising young artists, who are not afraid of sharing their opinion about modern-day society, are on display. Various disciplines and talents come together: design, architecture, photography, illustration, painting, and film. Despite all diversity, the nature of the works can be characterised as clear, direct and confronting, like the title says in Dutch: recht voor zijn raap.

The exhibition is not only presenting work of up-and-coming talent, but also work of artists who have already developed themselves and became successful in the past few years. For example, Christien Meindertsma, who won the Dutch Design Award in 2008 for best design with PIG 05049. And illustrator Gijs Huijgen and fashion designer Iris van Herpen with the same prize in 2009 for their work in the categories best illustration and best product fashion, jewellery & accessory. Especially for the exhibition, several artists, like Sjocosjon and Marc Koehler, create new work.

Also a two-part catalogue about the exhibition will be published, made by the designers Alfons Hooikaas and Felix Weigand.

Recht voor zijn raap

June 19th - September 12th

Central Museum Utrecht

Written for BLEND.

Robert Knight: Sleepless.

When I woke up this morning I thought I had a good night sleep; I went to bed quite early and didn't wake up till morning, without any interruptions. But did I really get my rest or is it not really as it seems? Robert Knight might have asked this same question, because he started a multimedia project on the subject of sleep. Using a combination of layered photographs, audio and video recordings, he has created portraits of sleepers over time.

These images are not ones of sweet sleep though, or depictions that readily describe something specific about each particular sleeper. They successfully accomplish what Knight writes was his goal all along: a story about sleep itself. The images portray the fact that we are often not at rest, not powered-down and not peacefully dreaming.

"Sleepless examines the contradiction between our expectations about sleep and its nocturnal actuality. It reveals a state of restlessness through the ethereal and translucent bodies, which are captured during long-exposure nighttime shots. The resultant images are nighttime narratives—stories of our night's sleep which suggest a contemporary sleep crisis in our society." thus Robert Knight.

If you're in Boston in June and July, you can experience this multi-dimensional and layered study firsthand at the Gallery Kayafas from tomorrow.

Sleepless
June 4 - July 17 2010
Gallery Kayafas, Boston, USA

Written for BLEND.

Wild Gathering: A Triangle Project.

Tomorrow, the Beijing Angle Modern Art Gallery opens the exhibition Wild Gathering, an exceptional global exhibition where photography and fashion meet, showcasing modern youth culture and featuring photographers Madi Ju (Beijing) and Peter Sutherland (New York) alongside fashion designer Hiro Sawatari (Tokyo).

The three artists are connected by their interest in youth culture. Early on Peter SutherlandMadi Ju exchanged photos made in a variety of environments, but all with kids expressing strong emotions in their natural habitat. They shot in cities all over the world and sent the photos to fashion designer Hiro Sawatari, who created T-shirts with collages from the pictures. Then, Peter and Madi shot six looks from Hiro's collections, which, including the clothes and the other images, will be on display in the gallery.

Madi Ju is a freelance photographer based in Beijing. Her images are steeped in the style of the snapshot aesthetic; loosely framed, usually shot on a compact camera and often an extension of the photographer’s life. Peter Sutherland is an American photographer, born in Colorado in 1976. His work employs some of the techniques of traditional documentary photography to capture the hidden beauty of ordinary objects and everyday situations. Hiro Sawataris is born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1981. Harmonizing a nostalgic grace with Japanese minimalism, Hiro Sawatari creates solid menswear by using fine couture fabrics.

Wild Gathering: A Triangle Project
June 5th till 12th 2010
Beijing Angle Modern Art Gallery, Beijing

Written for BLEND.

Pretty Much Everything.

Foam_Photography Museum Amsterdam is about to put the work of the world famous Dutch photographer duo Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin on display, just in time for their quarter-life century mark. They are well known for their work for fashion magazines, advertising campaigns, and for their independent artwork. Together, they\'ve done campaigns for YSL, Chanel, Balmain, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Yohji Yamamoto and Chloé.

Their work has been published in magazines like W Magazine, Vogue and The New York Times. Vinoodh Matadin and Inez van Lamsweerde have become known for their edgy and creative photography, which blurs the line between art and fashion. Rather than taking an outsider view of the fashion world as artists, they have become part of the fashion system, although retaining the freedom to create critical and occasionally disconcerting images.

The exhibition will feature 275 of the duo\'s striking, conceptual works. Art or fashion related photographs, portraits, all in an arbitrary order; the images are classified on personal, formal, social, political and intuitive associations, showing how they\'ve been a part of many artist lives during the past 25 years. To accompany the exhibition, the pair has released their first monograph, a two-volume set containing a momentous 666 photographs.

Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin
Pretty Much Everything - photographs 1985-2010
June 25th – September 15th 2010
Foam_Photography Museum Amsterdam

Written for BLEND.

American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection.

At the moment, the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York is presenting an exhibition of some of the most renowned objects from its costume collection. Works by the first generation of American women designers such as Bonnie Cashin, Elizabeth Hawes, and Claire McCardell are featured, as well as material created by Charles James, Norman Norell, Gilbert Adrian, and other important American designers.

American High Style consists of approximately eighty-five dressed mannequins and a selection of hats, shoes, sketches, and other fashion-related items. Besides the pieces of American designers, also work of French designers who had an important influence on American women and fashion are included. Designers such as Charles Frederick Worth, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jeanne Lanvin, Jeanne Paquin, Madeleine Vionnet, Paul Poiret and Christian Dior.

The exhibition explores developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. It focuses on archetypes of American femininity through dress and reveals how the American woman initiated style revolutions that matched her social, political, and sexual emancipation.

American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection
May 7th - August 1st 2010
Brooklyn Museum of Art , New York

Written for BLEND.

70s Photography and everyday life.

© William Eggleston / Courtesy Cheim & Read, New York

In the seventies, photography was accepted as an art form for the first time and everyday life began to infiltrate in photography as a very important theme. Also, the camera was used as a social and political tool in times of political awareness and political and economic liberty of women. Now, the Dutch Photography Museum tries to give a unique image of the most important period in photography history with the exhibition 70s Photography and everyday life.

With the exhibition, pictures of different seventies photographers will be on display. For example, the work of David Goldblatt, William Eggleston, Eugene Richards and Ed van der Elsken. There's also a book, especially compiled for the occasion, called 70s Photography and everyday life as well. The opening of the exhibition is Saturday, June 5th, at 7.00 PM.

70s Photography and everyday life
June 5th - September 19th 2010
Dutch Photography Museum Rotterdam

Written for BLEND.

Maison Martin Margiela '20' The Exhibition.

Maybe some of you have seen it before, but for the ones who missed it: Maison Martin Margiela '20' The Exhibition. This time not in MoMu Antwerp or the Haus der Kunst in Munich, but in the Somerset House London.

The exhibition is made for celebrating the 20th anniversary of one of the most influential and enigmatic designers. The exhibition captures two decades of Margiela's unique aesthetic and vision, incorporating garments, installations, photography and film. It will provide an opportunity to learn more about the brand and its philosophy through a visual examination of themes. The themes underpin the essence of the fashion house since its creation. Various iconic pieces from both the women and menswear collections will be on display, such as the highly replicated 'Tabi' boots, as well as specially recreated garments for the exhibition.

No other fashion house has had quite the same impact on our understanding of fashion and its relationship to history, craft, commerce and innovation. Martin Margiela's radical questioning and rethinking of what fashion is, how we clothe the body and ideals of human beauty, are still as groundbreaking as ever. And most of the time his creations seek the boundaries between fashion and art. Margiela's clothes are 'thinking fashion', imbued with obvious intellectual rather than monetary value.

Maison Martin Margiela '20' The Exhibition
June 3rd till September 5th 2010
Somerset House London

Written for BLEND.

Greg Streak: Nothing Lasts Forever.

South African artist Greg Streak positions himself between different disciplines, working in sculpture, video, installation and documentary film making. His work is aesthetic and even minimalistic. Where most artists tend to specialize in one area, Streak is able to control almost any medium he turns to.

Streak's new work will be on display at the Soledad Senlle Gallery in Amsterdam, from June 5th till July 17th. The exhibition is a solo show, entitled Nothing Lasts Forever, and is an extension of the work from his solo exhibition Accumulative Disintegration in 2008.

“I am interested in the invisible space between a title and the accompanying work and how the work is transformed by the title and the title by the work. At best the works are supposed to float away into abstraction, multiple truths and fantasy and then the title functions as this cruel anchor that nails it to the ground.” thus Greg Streak.

Titles are critical in Streak's case. Nothing Lasts Forever is, as the title suggests, a search into the impermanence of things. One of his new works, called Biopsy, is a 1.2m diameter sphere with a thickness of 100mm and floats approximately 50mm off the ground. It is constructed from 60 000 wire ties into an intensely woven spiral. The title alludes to the fact that something is potentially wrong, but you don't know exactly what, just like a real biopsy.

"I sense that we live in a time where there is a lot wrong. The works are intimate reflections, metaphors for this abnormality and what I see as social haemorrhaging.”

Greg Streak: Nothing Lasts Forever
June 5th - July 17th 2010
Soledad Senlle Gallery Amsterdam

Written for BLEND.

Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other.

This summer, the New Museum in New York shows the work of Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander. The exhibition will put a spotlight on the artist's unique contribution to the narrative of Brazilian conceptualism and reveal her wide-ranging, interdisciplinary practice, that merges painting, photography, film, sculpture, installation, collaborative actions and participatory events.

Three installations in A Day Like Any Other will involve direct visitor participation. Like, I Wish Your Wish, for example. For this installation hundreds of similar ribbons will be printed with visitors' wishes from past projects, and will hang from the gallery walls. Everyone who passes by will be invited to remove a ribbon, tie it to their wrist, and replace it with a new wish written on a peace of paper, continuing the project that keeps generating new ribbons and dreams.

In addition to these participatory actions there are also a few major installations and several new paintings, like After the Storm, made with maps of New York counties exposed to a lot of rain, and Involuntary Sculptures, sculptures made by customers during conversations at bars and restaurants near Neuenschwander's home in Brazil.

For her exhibition opening, Rivane Neuenschwander will discuss her work with Richard Flood in the theatre at the New Museum on Thursday, June 24th, at 7.00 PM.

Rivane Neuenschwander, A Day Like Any Other
June 23rd till September 19th, 2010
New Museum , New York

Written for BLEND.

Gold.

Gold is the most desirable metal known to humanity. Gold plays an important role in themes as protection, decoration, power, immortality, value and worship. Still this day, gold remains a valuable commodity, in many aspects.

This summer there will be an exhibition about this subject in Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. The Dutch fashion designer and (performance) artist Aziz Bekkaoui will give his personal vision on gold for this exhibition. Aziz will enhance the museum's own collection with remarkable, thought-provoking, surprising, old, modern and contemporary works on loan. And, for the first time, the collection from Aziz himself, in which he frequently uses gold, will be on display.

Gold
June 13th - January 6th 2010
Museum Catharijneconvent Utrecht

Written for BLEND.

Fashion & Architecture.

LucyandBart

Although there are frequent crossovers between fashion and architecture and other disciplines, the collaboration between fashion designers and architects is still at an early stage. But recently, architecture is slowly making its presence in fashion. The pliable metals, membrane structures, lightweight glasses and plastics used in building construction are creeping onto the catwalk. At the same time, architects are borrowing the techniques of pleating, stapling, cutting and draping from traditional tailoring to design buildings that are flexible, interactive, inflatable and even portable. No wonder, because both disciplines have so much common ground: they are both concerned with creating volumes in order to protect people, and both involve principles of construction.

So ARCAM, Ontfront and V2A Architectuur & Stedenbouw thought it would be time to combine the skills of these two disciplines. They have challenged four duos - each comprising a fashion designer and an architect who have teamed up especially for the occasion - to enter into a design process. The results will be on display at ARCAM this summer. The teams consist of Iris van Herpen & Jan Benthem and Mels Crouwel, Mattijs van Bergen & Anouk Vogel, Farida Sedoc & Nicole and Marc Maurer and Kentroy Yearwood & Jeroen Bergsma.

Mutually inspired, the designers cut through the dogmas of their own discipline, make a design statement and allow the visitor an insight into the creative process.

Exhibition Fashion & Architecture
July 17th - September 11th 2010
ARCAM , Amsterdam

Written for BLEND.

CUTTERS2010.

Collage is in no way a new medium. Lots of artists have practiced this art form in the past few centuries. However, as today's world edges closer to chaos with all its imagery and overflow of information, collage enjoys a newly found place among certain ways of expression.

CUTTERS2010, a group exhibition curated by James Gallagher, reaffirms the new recognition of collage with recent collage works of thirteen international artists. Using varied techniques and materials, each of the artists exploits the formal and ideological power of found images and they create a range of work with it that depict everything, from social commentaries to personal confessions and surrealist fantasies.

The exhibition shows us the work of different collage artists. You can behold Valero Doval's delicate vintage, Erik Foss's dirty girls, Sophie Kern's magical worlds, Matt Lipp's provocative silhouettes and many more. You can even see the work of pool gallery artist and CUTTERS curator James Gallagher, called private moments, composed of his own signature that includes vintage sex manuals and antique flea market findings.

Collage is an unexpected way of processing the world around us. Collage is the recycling, reinterpretation and reprocessing of our collective past, present and future.

CUTTERS2010
May 12th - July 15th 2010
Pool Gallery, Berlin

Written for BLEND.

Chicks On Speed: Don't Art, Fashion, Music.

For celebrating their 10th anniversary, Chicks on Speed in Berlin is organising a retrospective exhibition at the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre in Scotland. This is the first major solo exhibition in the UK of Chicks on Speed: an ever-changing multidisciplinary art group who apply punk-inspired DIY ethic to interrogate the boundaries of art, craft, fashion, music and new media.

Known globally for their melting-pot-style – encompassing cutting-edge pop music, performance art, a record label, collage graphics, painting and DIY fashion. Chick’s on Speed’s practice is chaotic and firmly against sedative art.

The exhibition will open with a live art performance for invited guests on June 4th. The highlight of their exhibition will be the unveiling of the ESHOE, this is a stiletto shoe that can be utilised as an electric guitar. They designed this stiletto together with the haute couture shoe designer Max Kibardin. These shoes will be unveiled alongside Chicks on Speed’s ever-growing collection of self made ‘objekt instruments’ – cigar-box synthesizers, super suits with sewn-in body sensors that trigger audio/video samples and two hats made in collaboration with Christophe Coppens and Hangar.org.

The DCA galleries will be further transformed into a giant stage and studio set for making music videos, experimenting with no-choreography and ongoing craft projects live, including loom-weaving inspired by Bauhaus design, lectures and workshops, film screenings of their fashion archive and selected video pieces. To coincide with the exhibition, DCA are co-producing a book with Booth-Clibborn Editions that will be launched in September 2010.

Chicks on Speed: Don't Art, Fashion, Music
June 5th - August 8th, 2010
Dundee Contemporary Arts , Dundee

Written for BLEND.

Dear Diary.

Most people have, at one point in their life, kept a diary. Many stopped after a while and never looked back, whereas others kept on documenting everything that happens in life, both the good bits and the sad stuff. A diary can offer many curious insights into an unfolding adolescent life, for example, and often it's funny to read in, when looking back.

Dear Diary, an exhibition put together by Ctrl.Alt.Shift, showcases the diaries of selected people, such as Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love and many others. Also a book has been created, called Dear Diary book, that you can buy here.

With the book and exhibition you can also dwell into the diaries of people you've never heard of before, dating back to the 19th century, for a snapshot of an unknown life. The British Museum’s collection of Irving Finkel diaries and Dan Eldon, who between the ages of 15 and 22 kept a diary about his adventures in Kenya, both have their journals on display as well.

But Ctrl.Alt.Shift. is taking the concept one step further and is asking you to submit your own diary, which will be continuously posted on the Diary blog.

Dear Diary
May 11th - May 23rd
SUPER SUPERFICIAL, Gallery 7, London

Geschreven voor BLEND.

Linder Sterling and Jon Savage: The Secret Public.

Jon Savage and Linder Sterling published The Secret Public in 1978, a book with photographs, montages and collages, capturing their perspective on urban life from a crucial period in British punk. Now, since May 10th, there is an exhibition about the book and the artists at the Boo-Hooray Gallery in New York.

The show is curated by Johan Kugelberg, with whom Jon Savage is now working with on a book about punk to be published by Rizzoli, 2010. The exhibition includes original montages and collages, original posters, flyers, handbills and the original publications.

Also presented are Jon Savage's photographs of urban decay in London and Manchester circa 1977-1978, some of which provided the basis for his collages and montages; and photographs taken by Linder at underground transvestite parties in Manchester at the club Mr. Dickens circa 1976. Some of the images in the book originally appeared as flyers and posters for the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Magazine and Factory Records. The name 'The Secret Public' was initially coined as a reaction to the fact very little of what they were reflecting in their work was mentioned in the mainstream or even the music press at that time.

Jon Savage is the author of acclaimed punk and youth culture books 'England’s Dreaming' and 'Teenage'. Linder Sterling is a visual, performance and installation artist represented in the Tate’s permanent collection.

The Secret Public - Linder Sterling & John Savage
May 10th - May 23rd 2010
Gallery Boo-Hooray, New York

Written for BLEND.