Táctica Sintáctica - Marres

Táctica Sintáctica 

Touching With Your eyes, Seeing With Your Hands

9 Mar 2023 — 28 May 2023, Marres Maastricht 

The exhibition Táctica Sintáctica subverts museum rules in order to provide space to the body. Art works are scattered in the rooms, some partly hidden, others can only be viewed when visitors are willing to squat, climb or kneel down. The artist Diego Bianchi takes every opportunity to awaken, surprise and touch the visitors.
For this exhibition, he transforms together with the poet and curator Mariano Mayer a selection of art works from the Museo CA2M Collection and the ARCO Foundation Collection (Spain). The selection includes work by David Hockney, Julia Spínola, Bruce Talamon, Dan Flavin, Dora García, Jimmie Durham, Günther Förg, Zoe Leonard, Joachim Koester, and many others. They insert new works and frame them in a new strategy (táctica) of loose ends (sintáctica). By reframing the collections, they also displace the identity and sensuality of the bodies around them. Táctica Sintáctica thus invites visitors to move and play to discover infinite perspectives. The radical question is: what movements and identities are hidden and reflected in art exhibitions? And what does the body want?

Táctica Sintáctica started in 2022 as part of the series Dubbing the Voice of the Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Madrid. In this series, artists are invited to provide new perspectives on the collections. Through disruptions, unforeseen interpretations and new ways of speaking, artists open up collections for new productions. To re-load and design Táctica Sintáctica in Marres marks the second phase of this opening-up process. Here, the exhibition offers not a perspective on an anchored collection but instead a group show unmoored from institutional history and memory. 

Diego Bianchi and Mariano Mayer:
“It all started as a game. We wanted to build an entire landscape of works within a museum. One composed of heterodox elements, rising high and piled on top of each other, able to serve as a critique of the clinicality and neutrality in which works of art are exhibited. We wanted to take some time to imagine that works were once again things of the world. In doing so, we began to see them as particles circulating, exposed to light or danger. The sensitive bond we re-establish with objects allows us to rediscover our tactility and recollection. To prevent our tactile emotions from becoming a haze that would engulf the works, we needed to release materials that were unfinished, soft, hot, cold, hard, rough. Caressing, massaging, elongating the materials; finding other forms in the repetition, in the touch and feel, in the gestures. Sculptural objects embody a moment in time; they teach us to think with our hands. Our eyes allow us to discover the distance that exists between our body and what we want to touch. They have nothing to do with our visual enjoyment; they merely measure how far from or close to whatever we want to touch we are.”

Táctica Sintáctica is the second in a series of re-loads Marres started in 2020 with the exhibition Codex Subpartum, a new version of an exhibition in which three artists created musical pieces on the basis of the collection of the Sztuki Museum in Lodz, Poland.

More information: Marres.org

Open Call for entries - 15th FASHIONCLASH Festival

14th edition of the international and interdisciplinary FASHIONCLASH Festival will take place from 17 - 19 November 2022 in Maastricht (The Netherlands).

During this three-day festival, a new generation of designers and performing artists from all over the world are given the opportunity to show their work to a broad (inter)national audience. The program with exhibitions, performances, fashion film screenings and awards, talks and workshops showcases projects that explore, contextualize and celebrate contemporary fashion culture.

FASHIONCLASH Festival is a three-day international and interdisciplinary festival for designers and (performing) artists who investigate, contextualize and celebrate contemporary fashion culture. FCF is all about discovering and supporting talent, driving and co-shaping current developments in the fashion (world), opening up these developments to a wide audience and initiating active public participation. The festival consists of a multidisciplinary and polyphonic program based on a selection from the proposals submitted via the open call and the projects initiated by FASHIONCLASH itself, which are developed in co-production with other organizations. FASHIONCLASH Festival is accessible to everyone via ticket sales and/or for free.

Open Call for entries
There are currently two open calls for participation in the 15th edition of the festival.

The CLASH House (development trajectory and performance Program)

The CLASH House, as part of the Performance Program of FASHIONCLASH Festival, is a showcase for a game-changing new generation of designers, who focus on crossovers with fashion and other art disciplines, in particular with performing arts. Participants are challenged to experiment with presentation forms in which storytelling, immersive experiences and inclusivity are central. With The CLASH House, FASHIONCLASH gives each selected participant a coaching trajectory provided by artists from the field of performing arts. The aim is to develop performances that can contribute to the innovation of the discipline, stimulate artistic development of the designers and facilitate the dialogue on what fashion is and can be.

Fashion Film Program
The fashion film (short fashion film) is an established format in which designers and brands are presenting their ethics and aesthetics. In this digital era, it is one of the more effective and sustainable ways to capture a fashion narrative and to reach a wide audience via online platforms and media. Challenging the norms of traditional presentations, advertising techniques, and moving fashion shoots, both independent designers and large fashion houses have embraced film as an art form. Besides the fashion film genre, there has been a rise of digital fashion in recent years. Designers have been digitally presenting their work in the form of a video or film, out of necessity or because they choose audiovisual tools to present their work.

More information about the conditions and how to apply: www.fashionclash.nl/fcf-2023-open-call

FASHIONCLASH Festival is an initiative of the Maastricht (Netherlands) based FASHIONCLASH Foundation, an interdisciplinary showcase and development platform and a worldwide network of new generation fashion makers and (performing) artists. Since 2009, the FASHIONCLASH has realized more than 200 projects in the Netherlands and abroad. www.fashionclash.nl/fashionclash-festival

Previous festival editions: www.fashionclash.nl/fashionclash-festival 

Aftermovie FASHIONCLASH Festival 2022

LCF Postgraduate Class of 2023

London College of Fashion presented the Postgraduate Class of 2023 in East London (The Truman Brewery) during London Fashion Week.

The showcase featured work from their three world-leading design, communications and business schools, demonstrating how LCF students look beyond the traditional notions of fashion to imagine a new and imaginative future. The two-day exhibition offered a unique perspective into LCF’s postgraduate work by immersing visitors in the future of fashion through displays of design, film, photography, VR and more from LCF’s boundary-breaking students.

The show was an impressive and hopeful view into the future with holistic takes of sustainability and inclusivity as key themes. Not to forget, the convincing presentations, the craftmanship and diverse skills.

More information about the Class of 2023

Impression from the presented work

Magdalena Abakanowicz - Tate Modern

In the 1960s and 70s, the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz created radical sculptures from woven fibre. They were soft not hard; ambiguous and organic; towering works that hung from the ceiling and pioneered a new form of installation. They became known as the Abakans.

This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to explore this extraordinary body of work. Many of the most significant Abakans will be brought together in a forest-like display in the 64-metre long gallery space of the Blavatnik Building at Tate Modern.

The exhibition explores this transformative period of Abakanowicz’s practice when her woven forms came off the wall and into three-dimensional space. With these works she brought soft, fibrous forms into a new relationship with sculpture. A selection of early textile pieces and her little-known drawings are also on show.

Magdalena Abakanowicz was born in 1930 in Poland and came of age during the Second World War. Living in Poland under the Communist regime, she established a career as an international artist and her work is included in many public and private collections around the world.

Exhibition organised by Tate Modern in collaboration with the Fondation Toms Pauli at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne/Plateforme 10 and Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden.

tate.org.uk

University of Salford MA Show 2023

13 designers showcased at Univeristy of Salfard MA catwalk

This season the University of Salford presented collections from thirteen MA graduate designers at their London Fashion Week runway show held at Phonica Records in Soho. 

Spanning themes of body modification, the queer rave scene, and the history of the Femme Fatale - The University of Salford showcased a roster of fresh designers expressing cultural and political issues through innovative design.

 

 

 

 

 

WE ARE 1 - Nike AF1

Filmmaker Enrico Poli joins forces with Undervilla to create a visually stunning piece following Nike AF1’s 40th anniversary.

WE ARE 1 | NIKE from UNDERVILLA PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.

Orlando: The New Chapter at Z33

Orlando: The New Chapter is an artistic research project based on Virgina Woolf’s novel Orlando. With this project a number of students from Toneelacademie Maastricht (Maastricht Theatre Academy) were linked to the content of the Fitting In exhibition at Z33 in Hasselt (Belgium)

Orlando describes the life of a poet whose gender changes from male to female and who lives for centuries. A beautiful, poetic look at gender, identity, poetry, time, love and life. Students reflect on themes of gender, feminism, transformation and identity, building an additional chapter to the book. What would Orlando do in today’s society? What commitment would Orlando make and in what context?

Throughout the evening, the Nocturne on February 9th, there were a number of short individual performances (personal artistic reflections) throughout the building that were visual and performative translations of the new ‘chapter’ for Orlando.

Participating students: Varenka Theunynck, Sasha Kurensky, Yorviq Macaay, Stefan Droger, Beaudine Dermine, Kato Cornil

Supervision: Branko Popovic (FASHIONCLASH, co-curator Fitting In) and Joost Horward (Toneelacademie)

Impressions from the Nocturne, February 9th at Z33 
All images by Branko Popovic 

Hrair Sarkissian: The Other Side of Silence

Hrair Sarkissian: The Other Side of Silence at Bonnefanten Museum Maastricht

The Other Side of Silence is the first mid-career survey in the Netherlands by the Syrian-Armenian artist Hrair Sarkissian (born 1973, Damascus, Syria) - one of today's leading conceptual artists working with photography. In The Other Side of Silence, Sarkissian reveals the muted wounds behind scenes of conflict, which are often realised in his signature life-sized photographs.

Following its presentation at Sharjah Art Foundation and Bonniers Konsthall, the Bonnefanten exhibition presents the most extensive body of work, featuring two new commissions, Last Seen (2021-2022) and Sweet and Sour (2022), as well as works not previously included on the exhibition tour.

The Bonnefanten presentation also coincides with a time, where there is an increase in global movement due to conflict and civil unrest. Sarkissian's penetrating works call on everyone not to shut their eyes and to remain open to what is not told and disseminated.

Sarkissian's practice has involved recuperative acts drawn from personal memory, as well as a resuscitation of hidden histories, which have been developed through in-depth research and human encounter. The artist has continued, since his youth, to capture his images with an analogue large-format camera, where human figures are most often absent.

Many of Hrair Sarkissian's works emerge from personal seats of memory. These lines of inquiry initiate processes of detailed research and exploration. Born in Syria - the grandson of Armenian genocide refugees, much of his work can be interpreted as an investigation into the concealed emotional contexts that suffuse the lives of myriad diasporic communities.

More information: bonnefanten.nl

A Room of One's Own - Bonnefanten

Lydia Schouten, I feel like boiled milk, 1980. Collection of the artist.

A Room of One's Own - Bonnefanten Museum Maastricht

A Room of One’s Own is an exhibition about the work and ideas of female artists spanning several generations, with most works taken from the Bonnefanten’s own collection. This exhibition also features guest artists Carol Rhodes, Lydia Schouten and Marijke Stultiens.

What is the minimum requirement to create a work of art? British author and feminist Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941) asks herself this question in her essay titled: A Room of One's Own (1929). Her answer: security, confidence, independence, a certain amount of money and... a room of one's own. Things that may sound quite ordinary now, but were unnattainable for women all over the world.


With artworks from the Bonnefantencollection by:
Monika Baer, Marlene Dumas, Shilpa Gupta, Bettie van Haaster, Nancy Haynes, Mary Heilmann, Nan Hoover, Suchan Kinoshita,  Jutta Koether, Laura Lima, Rebecca Morris, Otobong Nkanga, Mai-Thu Perret, Alison Saar, Ine Schröder, Lily van der Stokker, Roos Theuws, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Paloma Varga Weisz

More information: bonnefanten.nl

Schepers Bosman - AW 2023 collection

Schepers Bosman presented their 23 autumn winter collection in Paris.

ABOUT 23AW
Schepers Bosman introduces their Autumn/Winter 2023 collection, fronted by garage rock band Queen’s Pleasure’s bass player Jelmer van Os. Shot in Amsterdam at the headquarters of music label Bloomer Records, the campaign embodies the long-lasting relationship and joint creativity between the designer duo and the music artists. Wearing key pieces from the collection, mixed with Jelmer’s personal style and attitude, the looks move easily between masculinity, femininity and androgyny.

MATERIALS The key materials of 23AW consists of Dutch woven denim (Made in NL), English woven denim (Made in UK) and Italian woven denim (Made in IT), next to merino cable knits, brushed cotton jerseys, cashmere wool mixes, shear wool, eco-cotton muslin, eco-cotton gabardine (Printed in NL) and checkered flannel.

NEW STYLES The collection features iconic Dutch denim designs, cargo inspired pants, oversized coats, tailored shirts, voluminous culottes, 3D draped cable knits, floor-length tunics and hand drawn prints, paying special attention to visible construction techniques, irregular pattern cutting and handmade graphics. All collections are Made in The Netherlands and presented in Paris during menswear fashion week.

ABOUT SCHEPERS BOSMAN Schepers Bosman is a Dutch fashion brand based in the Netherlands, founded by Sanne Schepers and Anne Bosman. Schepers attended IFM in Paris, Bosman graduated from MA Central Saint Martins London. They gained work experience at Christopher Kane, Viktor & Rolf and Robert Clergerie. Schepers Bosman has received several prizes and nominations, such as the Mercedes-Benz Les Etoiles Award, the Lichting Raw Talent Award, two H&M Design Awards and the Dutch Design Awards. Their designs are a favorite amongst music artists worldwide.

www.schepersbosman.com

ABOUT QUEEN’S PLEASURE open.spotify.com/artist/6S0O3eQiVrw78LG1z2EE4h

Collectie Arnhem 2023

A Portrait of The Anarchist As A Working Man, Collectie Arnhem 2023

About the collection
The starting point of the collection was the word “CHAIN”, with The Chain issue of MacGuffin magazine as inspiration. Throughout the process, this concept was collectively reinterpreted and developed. Initial silhouette proposals were created through drapings that were made with deadstock workwear provided by HAVEP. By reconstructing contemporary workwear, a storyline arose which sees all models as individual characters, breaking free from the chain of command.
The models and garments exist in different stages of the process of reclaiming their individuality, identity and freedom. The workwear itself, which embodies repetition and anonymity within a larger system, expands and transforms throughout the collection. This is supplemented with historical techniques such as smocking and knitting, which reference ideas of interconnectedness and chain reactions. Exaggerated silhouettes move from thin and elongated to enlarged and voluminous, in varying degrees of bodily restriction. Reflective silver stripes, bright blue and neon yellow fabrics sparkle between oppressive blacks and greys, while pink and beige tones soften.
Recycled twill cotton, metal constructions and heavy patchwork complement delicate mesh and sculptural knitwear made of deadstock yarns. Finishings like a double topstitch in contrasting colours and raw edges are copied from workwear garments referenced during research. Accessories like metal shoes, handbags and earplugs were developed in collaboration with Product Design students.

Film
This film tells the story of workers breaking free from the chain of command. To represent this concept, the set design consists of a maze inside an industrial warehouse. Mirroring and multiplication in shadows are used to illustrate the magnitude of masses and repetition. The models start out walking in a robotic fashion, and get more free and individualistic throughout — representing their journey to self-actualisation and finding liberation collectively.

A PORTRAIT OF AN ANARCHIST AS A WORKING MAN from ArtEZ Fashion Design Arnhem on Vimeo.

Designers
Finnean Bustin | Darina Denisova | Hannah Hasler | Christiaan Kock | Lisa Kostenko |
Madelief de Lange | Fieke Lenders | Alyne Li | Simi Liew | Kelly Meiling | Jennika
Nooteboom | Sophie-Marie Ordo | Loreta Rogule | Nouka Rous | Yajing Wang

Collectie Arnhem is an annual collaborative project for third-year students of the Bachelor Fashion Design at ArtEZ University of the Arts. The class develops, designs and presents a cohesive collection under guidance of three tutors. The various tasks involved in creating a collection, including production, promotion and financing, challenge students and prepare them for their internship and graduation year.

Instagram: @collectiearnhem

In the Black Fantastic - Kunsthal, Rotterdam

There's a shamanistic, larger-than-life presence in Soundsuit (2014) Nick Cave
(Courtesy of artist/ Jack Shainman Gallery, NY/ Mandrake Hotel Collection)

In the Black Fantastic
19 November – 9 April 2023, Kunsthal, Rotterdam

In the Black Fantastic: exhibition about being black in the past, present and future. After a successful run Hayward Gallery in London, the exhibition is now on show at Kunsthal in Rotterdam.

“There are black people in the future” stands large on the facade of the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. It is a work by Alisha B. Wormsley who critically examines the oppression of Black communities while at the same time encouraging Black people to claim their place.
This is just one of the powerful works in the new exhibition that features a mix of painting, photography, video, sculpture, and installations.

In the Black Fantastic is trully a fantastic experience brought to the Netherlands by the curator Shehera Grot. Yes, it is very visually appealing at first sight and it immediately engages you in a visual sensation. Subsequently, you discover the layers of stories and necessities that the artists tell with their work. It is a very effective multimedia composition at the intersection of reality and fantasy. Although this fantastical experience may seem to distract you from the constraints Black people have to deal with on daily basis, the artists here use their imaginative gift to explore new possible realities.

In the Black Fantastic, Kunsthal Rotterdam, foto Fred Ernst

In the Black Fantastic works are shown by eleven contemporary artists from the African Diaspora. With boundless imagination and skilled virtuosity, the artists are addressing racism and social inequality. Inspired by folklore, myth, science fiction, spiritual tradition, and Afrofuturism, they are imagining new worlds and possibilities. In the Black Fantastic shows art that speaks about various universal themes and human experiences, made from different starting points, contexts and perspectives. Art that appeals to everyone and appeals to the imagination.

In the Black Fantastic, Kunsthal Rotterdam, foto Fred Ernst

The writer and curator Ekow Eshun brought together two generations of artists in this exhibition: Nick Cave, Sedrick Chisom, Ellen Gallagher, Hew Locke, Wangechi Mutu, Rashaad Newsome, Chris Ofili, Tabita Rezaire, Cauleen Smith, Lina Iris Viktor, and Kara Walker.

MASCOTS at FASHIONCLASH Festival

Within the framework of Fashion Makes Sense program of FASHIONCLASH, the MASCOT project was organized.

Within the theme of the campaign image of the 14th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival, a number of workshops were organized where non-professionals, mostly young people, were invited to create their own mascots. Not like the typical mascots, but avant-garde creations that represent something you stand for and are passionate about. Mascot is an object that the owner believes will bring good luck. Also clubs, companies and associations sometimes have their own mascots.
Driven by the spirit of the FASHIONCLASH community – from volunteers to coaches to performers – the festival campaign was centered around the people who have played an important part in the existence and development of FASHIONCLASH Festival, going back to the early start in 2009. Each individual is captured in a surreal locker room, where they prepare themselves for the next game – the 14th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival.

In line with the FASHIONCLASH Festival campaign theme (see video below) a mascot turned out to be a very suitable way to include non-professionals, young people and students.

One of the workshops took place at the Toneelacademie Maastricht (Theatre Academy) was provided by Branko Popovic of FASHIONCLASH team. He worked with second year students from the scenography and costume department. Other workshops were open for everyone and took place at The Masters.

Eventually, 16 different mascots were created during the workshops, all representing a unique point of view. The results of all the workshops were presented during the official festival opening at Lumiere Cinema on Friday evening 25 November. Directing student Nicole Pul was invited to select a group of performers from the theatre academy and stage an interactive performance for the festival opening.

New Fashion Narratives - Marres - FASHIONCLASH Festival

New Fashion Narratives #1 @ Marres - House for Contemporary Culture, curated by FASHIONCLASH



New Fashion Narratives exhibition at Marres consists of a multidisciplinary selection of both young and established talent with a link with the Netherlands. FASHIONCLASH signals a growing need among Dutch designers to contribute to a healthier fashion sector and a better world. This critical, research-minded and hybrid generation of fashion makers engage themselves in the transformative role of fashion in relation to social issues and propose alternative fashion practices and narratives.

During this three-day hybrid (on- & offline program) festival, a new generation of designers and performing artists from all over the world are given the opportunity to show their work to a broad (inter)national audience. The program with exhibitions, performances, talks and fashion film screenings and awards, showcases projects that explore, contextualize and celebrate contemporary fashion culture.

During the festival, work by more than 50 emerging and established designers and artists from different countries around the world was on show.

Participants:
Teresa van Twuijver & Studio de Maan, Extended, Lena Winterink, Bobbine Berden Design, Wei-Chi Su, Antoine Peters, Space For Fiction (SFF), Guerline Kamp, Atelier Dasha Tsapenko

New Fashion Narratives exhibition by Glamcult and FASHIONCLASH

New Fashion Narratives #1 @ Bureau Europa,
curated by Glamcult and FASHIONCLASH



New Fashion Narratives exhibition at Bureau Europa is an international selection of designers curated by Glamcult and FASHIONCLASH. New Fashion Narratives stands for the current generation of designers who see fashion as their mission. They explore the boundaries of their discipline, question social systems and specifically the fashion industry. With their works they move between the interdisciplinary domains of fashion, social design, visual arts and investigate the relationship with the user/consumer.

Participants:
Art Collective BCHMNN, Mehdi Mashayekhi, LABELEDBY., OUR SHIFT, Aurélie Defez, DOMINIK, Dara Benno, SUFI, Pablo Salvador Willemars, ZOLI, Denzel Veerkamp, Luca Berger, House of rubber, SCHEPERS BOSMAN

New Fashion Narratives #1 @ Bureau Europa took part during the 14th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival in Maastricht.
During this three-day hybrid (on- & offline program) festival, a new generation of designers and performing artists from all over the world are given the opportunity to show their work to a broad (inter)national audience. The program with exhibitions, performances, talks and fashion film screenings and awards, showcases projects that explore, contextualize and celebrate contemporary fashion culture. 

During the festival, work by more than 50 emerging and established designers and artists from different countries around the world was on show.

Watch the exhibition here and hear designers speak about their project: