Shanghai Gesture in Museum Willet-Holthuysen

Shanghai Gesture, curated by Alexander van Slobbe, reflects the mission of the museum to be a platform where young artists can develop and showcase their creative and entrepreneurial talents.

Museum Willet - Holthuysen from 8 July till 13 November
http://www.willetholthuysen.nl/

In the exhibition Shanghai Gesture guest curator and designer Alexander van Slobbe presents the results of the workshop that he held for designers as part of the cultural programme for the WorldExpo in Shanghai (2010). Later, students from the Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam) were asked to respond to the workshop by producing woven textiles, which were then passed on to four designers. The collections that were co-created by the designers and the students can be viewed in the period rooms of Museum Willet-Holthuysen. The exhibition also features photos and drawings made in Shanghai and Amsterdam.


The Dutch Golden Age as inspiration
After being asked by the Amsterdam Municipal Executive to contribute to the cultural programme for last year's WorldExpo, Alexander van Slobbe set up a workshop for Amsterdam and Shanghai designers with cooperation as the theme; more specifically, the exploration, use and exchange of Dutch and Chinese arts and crafts. The Dutch Golden Age formed the inspiration for the workshop and the emphasis was on technique. The collection was photograped by Johannes Schwartz and Qiu-yang.


Textiles and coats
Later, in the spring of 2011, Van Slobbe invited second-year students from the Rietveld Academy to design woven textiles using the same starting points. He then held another workshop where he presented the textiles to various designers (Kunji Baerwald, Thera Hillenaar, Lotte van Keulen, Tessa Koops, Niki Mens and Soepboer&Stooker) and set them the task of making coats.


Contributing designers:
Elja Lintsen, Ratna Ho, Danny Cremers, Eric Ng, Xiaojing Xia, Margreet Sweerts, Desiree Hammen, Saskia van Drimmelen, Iñiy Sanchez van Oort, Martine van 't Hul, Kunji Baerwald, Niki Mens, Thera Hillenaar, Tessa Koops, Xuena He, Lotte van Keulen, Berber Soepboer, Anne Stooker, Ellie Duinker, Isa van Gool, Eveline Keijser, Jasmin Koschutnig, Elisabeth Leerssen, Caroline Lindo, Sylvia Wozniak, Nadine Gupfert amongst others.

Take a look at some work, but it's best if you see it your self in Amsterdam. It's open till 13th of November.
Shanghai Gesture was included in the program of Salon/2.  http://www.salon1.org/