BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: New Fashion Narratives exhibition

Exquisite Corps

For the 16th time, Maastricht was all about the art and culture of fashion with the annual FASHIONCLASH Festival. More than 100 designers and artists from more than 20 countries were given a platform to present their work to an international audience. More than 100 young people are actively involved in Fashion Makes Sense, FASHIONCLASH's participation program, through workshops, co-creation projects or as performers. Spread over 13 locations there were exhibitions, performances, workshops, lectures, films, designer market, etc. Even the festival Afterparty was transformed into a showcase of fashion, dance, spoken word and celebration of the diversity of identity expression.

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, talks, workshops and fashion film screenings, showcases projects that explore, contextualize and celebrate contemporary fashion culture.

Exquisite Corps
For this year's exhibition program, five fashion practitioners were invited by FASHIONCLASH to form a curatorial team and collaborate on the concept for the New Fashion Narratives exhibition that will be presented at Bureau Europa during the festival. This year's curatorial team includes Chaewon Kong, Karime Salame, Katharina Spitz, Simon Marsiglia and Teresa Carvalheira – a group of fashion makers with diverse backgrounds and practices within and beyond the fashion landscape.

They first met during a physical Residency Week (22-26 April 2024) in Maastricht, where they got to know each other and worked on developing the concept. The exhibition was built around the idea of the game Exquisite Corps that serves as a metaphor for the framework for presenting works that are the result of collaborative and/or transdisciplinary practices. A selection has been made of artists, researchers and designers from various disciplines.

The curatorial team was inspired by topics and practices beyond the boundaries of the fashion landscape. They want to broaden the confines of fashion and design practices by welcoming applications from artists, researchers, and designers from various disciplines who work according to a transdisciplinary approach. This iteration of ‘New Fashion Narratives’ explores cross-disciplinary practices and simultaneously showcases their potential and impact.
Works are combined free from the confines of the traditional fashion landscape, drawing inspiration from practices with a wide range of sources/topics (scientific, rituals of care, food, crafting, etc.). Both artists, researchers, makers from other disciplines, and fashion practitioners were invited to participate through an Open Call. The ‘Exquisite Corpse’ was put into practice as a new, temporary installation consisting of exhibitors’ works composed by the curatorial team. Collaboration, exchange, and interaction become integral parts of their shared exploration.
Through an activation programme, visitors could participate in various activities in addition to the exhibition; these interactions spark conversations about the prospects of transdisciplinary collaboration.

New Fashion Narratives participants
2mm, Agatha Prieto Jeanty, Rafael Kouto, Wataru Sato, Delia Rößer, Alyne Li, STUDIO ERASER YOU, Hongkai Li, Jiwoo Lee & Hankyul Jeong, Threads & Tits, Olivia Sahl Jensen, Sien Entius, Lee Kern, Studio Wievien, Romy Yedidia, DOMINIK, Knits and Notes, Zuzana Vrabelova, Chiel Lubbers, Dana Elmi Sarabi, Studio Frowijn, Souheila Chalabi, Jinwon Kim, Matti Paffen, Kushami 嚔(by Ayumi Kajiwara), Lara van der Poel, Wassim el Hodayebi.

All images are by Laura Knipsael, except workshop bij Studio Frowijn, these are by Mitch van Schijndel.