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Yesterday I went to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam for their exhibit "Art in Fashion" [edit: apparently the museum as an Art tube / video tube I was unaware of, there are lots of videos about the exhibit. Btw, this post is only a couple hours old, I'm impressed with the museum's internet savvy at leaving a comment already!] I wasn't really sure what to expect. My personal view is one of annoyance when designers go on about how they are artists using the human body as canvas. I don't doubt that some designers approach design from an artistic side but I have a hard time calling an every day run of the mill sundress or jacket a piece of art. I know other people have a different opinion so let's just agree to disagree on this one. To me, a work of art in fashion is something that requires a skilled craftsperson, such as handmade silk flowers, hand embroidery, etc. I would agree that embroidery or crochet patterns themselves can be art but to me, once they are mass produced on machines into half a million sundresses and sold at thousands of stores, it's not art.
It's not just the mass production that takes away the "art" label because surely there are small designers producing limited quantities of designs, about which I would equally argue are not art. And on the other side I can just as easily call a mass produced item art if it is innovative -- something new. Most designers don't create new things. They may think they do but if you break up everything in their garment into pieces you can find garments that did each of those things. What they did, as a designer, as a good and creative designer, is put them together in an aesthetically pleasing way. To me, that's not art. Good design? Yes. Art? No.
Vionnet created art because she created new things and there are a lot of designers today that are doing new things also. But in general do I think Fashion is art? No, I don't. So my hopes were not high for this exhibit. I was half-expecting women's tailored suits from the 40's with write-ups about how this suit represents women's struggles into the masculine workforce and how they were constricted by their feminine label... I've seen stuff like this before and it annoys me. The suit was not made to represent anything, the suit was made as a suit and reflected the times. The fashion designer did not intend to put it in a museum with his artistic statement. The construction of the suit may have been impeccable, a work of art, but the suit itself was not created with an artistic statement so how can we now give it one?
Well, I was pleasantly surprised by what I ended up seeing!
The exhibition was actually a collection of pieces that designers had done with artistic statements in mind. These were not clothes that were being rebranded as art. These were 3-dimensional works of art, or sculptures, that used fabric and fashion as part of their political statement and I found the whole thing very entertaining and enjoyable.
Below the cut are photos from well known designers such as Hussein Chalayan, Viktor & Rolf, Comme des Garcons, and more, plus some lesser known names as well. Each photo is accompanied by the title, artist's name and any personal comments I have. There are 45 photos under the cut so be prepared to wait a bit for them to load! 
If you just want to see the photos without descriptions, or if you want to grab larger sizes you can view my Picasa album.
Description of image below: When we arrived at the museum they had this contraption set up for people to hang their coats up. It was fun to play with.
Description of image below: The exhibit was in one wing of the museum, arranged in 3 rooms. This is a picture of the biggest room. According to the pamphlet I got there were 46 items on display spread through these 3 rooms.
Description of image below: "Remote Control 1" by Jana Sterbak. There was a remote with this in a glass case and it could be used to move the person around who was wearing the device.
Description of image below: "Micro Geography" by Hussein Chalayan. The mannequin inside this box was in water. She was spinning and her head was out of water with a fan on her. There were cameras set up throughout the box and their video feed was displayed on the wall behind.
Description of image below: "Mechanical Dress" by Hussein Chalayan. This dress has wires in it and it changes shape. I found a video of the collection but to be honest I don't see this dress so I'm confused. Anyway here is the video
Description of image below: "Hana, collection Bedtime Story" by Viktor & Rolf
"Maryna, collection The Fashion Show" by Viktor & Rolf. She was even playing her own music, it was awesome. Oh, and check out the wooden shoes!
by Dirk Van Saene. Dresses made out of crepe paper.
Description of image below: "Untitled" by Maison Martin Margiela. It looks like a dressform but it is actually a corset in a perfect size 38 made out of Stockman mannequin fabric (modelled on a dressform). I got a kick out of the "semi-couture"
Description of image below: "Airmail Dress, collection Airmail Clothing" by Hussein Chalayan.
Description of image below: "The Red Wall" by Charlie Le Mindu.
Description of image below: "Untitled, Body Skin and Hair Collection" by Sandra Backlund. It was unfortunate I couldn't use a flash because it was very difficult to get a photo of this with my flash turned off. The camera kept wanting to do a long exposure due to how dark it is and it turned out blurry.
Description of image below: "Final Foam Dresses, collection Inertia" by Hussein Chalayan.
Description of image below: "Deer Cape, collection Dream Your Dream" by Christope Coppens
Description of image below: "Body Hat" by Christophe Coppens
Description of image below: "Untitled" by Gareth Pugh
Description of image below: "Untitled" by Louise Bougeois. The busts are not supposed to show any individuality and are crudely stitched together yet still give a "ghostly hint" (their words, not mine) of features.
Description of image below: "Soundsuits" by Nick Cave. They are made of found and recycled objects and the name Soundsuits refer to the noise they make when worn. They are for use in his performance pieces. Something I found particularly of interest / full of irony is that the foundation fabric for the button suit is a black fabric with beautiful embroidery on it. It poked through in only a couple places and was hard to photograph
Description of image below: "Le Roy Soleil" by Salvador Dali. I had to take a picture of this because while it is true that it is a sun with crows painted flying in front of it, it is also true that it is a sun with a face (to me, a sad face). I like to remind myself of how we can take advantage of the brain's desire to make sense of things and play with shapes to trick the mind into seeing things that aren't there.
Description of image below: "No References" by Christope Coppens. Very interested group of items. Read the picture of the placard for more info. I took photos of my favourites.
And there we have it, I hope you enjoyed the tour! Remember if you want to grab larger sizes you can view my Picasa album.
If you are in Europe and able to get to Rotterdam I recommend visiting the exhibition. It is not huge though so don't expect a full day, I think it took us 1.5hrs to go through it and that is only because I was snapping photos and had to read everything. If you want better photos they had a really nice photographic catalogue also. It was 18euros in their giftshop and I imagine you can probably order it by calling and using a credit card. Don't be afraid of language, everyone there speaks both Dutch and English and if you speak French, German or Spanish they can probably find someone on staff to help you.
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Yesterday I went to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam for their exhibit "Art in Fashion" [edit: apparently the museum as an Art tube / video tube I was unaware of, there are lots of videos about the exhibit. Btw, this post is only a couple hours old, I'm impressed with the museum's...
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Fabulous, I've edited the article to include this link. I didn't see it before! :)
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