Devout/Divine -Fashion vs. Religion at MMH (Hasselt Fashion Museum)

Despite the winter weather I went to Hasselt last week to visit the exhibition ‘Devout/Divine- Fashion vs. Religion’ at the MMH ( Fashion Museum Hasselt). I’m really glad I got the chance to see it and that this is my last report of 2010. This was one of the most inspiring exhibitions of 2010.



If you have the chance to see it there is a possibility to visit the exhibition until the 9th of January 2011.


Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture s/s 2007

‘Devout/Divine- Fashion vs. Religion’ focuses on the relationship between contemporary fashion design and religion. More specifically, the integration and translation of religious symbolism in designs of the past decennia is emphasized.
With this expo, MMH focuses on a very contemporary theme. Religion and its visual appearance are much discussed these days. Many religious groups have distinct clothing politics that play an important role in their identity.

Recently, there has been a growing interest of designers for religion and the clothing and symbols that go along with it. However, the use of religion in fashion is not new. In the middle of the 20th century, leading fashion houses like Jeanne Lanvin, Madame Grès and Cristobal Balenciaga based several designs on religious garments, as a result of their religious education. In the ‘80s, jewellery with religious symbols was very popular, for example the queen of pop Madonna wore crosses as necklace and earrings.


‘Devout/Divine – Fashion vs. Religion’ is a compilation of creations of international designers and photographers. It examines how religion is integrated in their work. In the exhibition there are designs by designers like Jean Paul Gaultier, Rick Owens, Walter Van Beirendonck, Bernhard Willhelm, A.F. Vandevorst, Manish Arora, Raf Simons, Mada van Gaans, Cristobal Balenciaga, M+F Girbaud and more.

Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture s/s 2007




Raf Simons A/W 2000/2001




Rick Owens s/s 2009




Arkadius S/S 2002


Walter van Beirendonck F/W 2008-2009


Kevin Ledo 'The Burden of Saint Vuitton' - The Guiding Light 2009


Adam Courtney 'Religion Narrative'


Michaël Verheyden designed the scenography, a scene that contributes to a total experience of divine fashion.





Todd Lynn F/W 2009-2010


‘Devout/Divine- Fashion vs. Religion’ is coordinated by Kenneth Ramaekers with assistance of Eve Demoen. Scenography is designed by Michaël Verheyden

For more information about the exhibition: http://www.modemuseumhasselt.be/




January 29th MMH will open a new exposition ‘Alter Nature: The future that never was’ with participants like: Thierry Mugler, Marloes ten Böhmer and Lanvin.

‘Alter Nature: The future that never was’ is an overarching project by Z33, the Hasselt Fashion Museum and CIAP in collaboration with the MAD faculty, the University of Hasselt, the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), KULeuven University and bioSCENTer.

Check the blog post about: ‘Alter Nature: we can’

Christmas Couture

Here is an installation by Maison Martin Margiela at Arnhem Mode Biënnale in 2009.


Maison Martin Margiela Haute Couture A/W 2009/10


Garteh Pugh AW 2006/2007


...or what about this homemade Christmas couture?


A Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating!

PJ Harvey- Let England Shake

New work by PJ Harvey, can't wait! Here's the first song and video from ' Let England Shake'.

PJ Harvey 'The Last Living Rose'


A short film, directed by the esteemed award-winning photographer Seamus Murphy, will premiered last Monday, December 20th. Murphy has directed a series of short films to accompany all 12 songs on Harveys new album Let England Shake, The Last Living Rose will be the first to air.

The 12 films will feature still and moving images from a 5,000 mile road-trip Murphy undertook around England. He has worked similarly with still photography on journeys through America and Russia.

Inspired and developed from themes in the new album, the films were made in the manner of classic photographic reportage - recording real & spontaneous situations. They make up a visual diary of Murphys journey, travelling light and alone, and his attempt to document England and the English.

Murphy has mixed his observations on England with images from his work in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East - places Polly refers to in her depiction of England. The film soundtrack, the studio recording of the album Let England Shake, is mixed at times with footage and audio Murphy captured of Harvey in rehearsal and in performance. In addition some of the album lyrics were given a voice by people he encountered on his journey.

http://www.pjharvey.net

Alter Nature: We Can

Alter Nature: We Can at Z33 Hasselt (Belguim)
21.11.2010 to 13.03.2011



Alter Nature: We Can shows the work of 20 international contemporary artists and designers. The exhibition focuses on the different ways in which people have displaced, manipulated or designed nature: from small gardens to private islands, from carrots and bonsai trees to acoustic plants and orange pheasants.

In Alter Nature: We Can, Z33 looks at the sub-aspect of fauna and flora in nature. Through the works of some twenty international artists we explore how humankind manipulates nature and how the concept of ‘nature’ constantly changes as a result of this.

Alter Nature lounge


The works are not about using nature to meet basic needs (such as health, food, protection, etc.). Interesting projects in this context are legion, but grouped together they almost inevitably lead to simplified contradictions. On the one hand, one has projects that look ‘positively’ upon transforming nature: they find out what technology can do or they show solutions. These projects are often criticised because they seem to subscribe seamlessly to the scientific belief in progress. On the other hand, some projects show the negative side; they look at interventions in nature that have gone wrong. These projects are criticesed to bethe autonomous art corner’s wagging finger. They criticise but do not offer any solutions.

Alter Nature: We Can wants to go beyond this simplified pro-contra positioning. The works on display are therefore devoid of strict utilitarianism and the emphasis is on the historic context of intervention, the multiplicity of manipulations and our fluctuating understanding of the concept of nature.

Curator: Karen Verschooren (Z33)

Artists: Makoto Azuma (JP), BCL: Shiho Fukuhara (JP) and Georg Tremmel (AT), David Benqué (UK), Julien Berthier (FR), Merijn Bolink (NL), Center for PostNatural History, Mark Dion (US), Driessens & Verstappen (NL), Daisy Ginsberg (UK), Tue Greenfort (DK),Natalie Jeremijenko (US), Eduardo Kac (US), James King (UK), Allison Kudla (US), Reinier Lagendijk (NL), Antti Laitinen (FIN), Hans Op de Beeck (B), Michael Sailstorfer (D), Maarten Vanden Eynde (B), Adrian Woods (NL), Adam Zaretsky (US)

Alter Nature: We Can is part of Alter Nature, an overarching project by Z33, the Hasselt Fashion Museum and CIAP in collaboration with the MAD faculty, the University of Hasselt, the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), KULeuven University and bioSCENTer.

http://www.z33.be

I'm looking forward to exhibition at the Hasselt Fashion Museum " Alter Nature: The future that never was" (29.01.2011 - 05.06.2011)

'Mobile Wilderness Unit-Wolf' by Mark Dion


'Growth Pattern' Allison Kudla

Growth Pattern consists of a 2,5 x 2,5m grid in which 64 Petri dishes contain tobacco plant leaves cut in specific shapes. The work takes on the form of a pattern and shows a direct link with design and the history of nature as a motif and interior design element.

'Morphoteque #9' Driessens & Verstappen

A collection of 32 artificial carrots, the shapes of which are based on carrots that were rejected in distribution centres.

'Nature Sucks' by Merijn Bolink



‘Nature Sucks’ is a willow branch, the side branches of which have been processed to show a number of geometric patterns, as well as the words “Nature Sucks”. Through this work as well as through No Title (Mondriaan in Como), Bolink wants to test the possibilities of rebellion or revolt vis-à-vis nature. At one fell swoop he passes over (ignores) the amazing and obligatory beauty of nature to make a controversial statement: Down with nature! Nature is killing us! Nature Sucks!

'Untiteld' by Reinier Lagendijk

Reinier Lagendijk presents with this work a 140cm high yucca plant. Conscious of the techniques of plant manipulation and processes and capacities of plant growth, Lagendijk creates poetic images which often come across as humoristic in the almost human dimensions they have been given.

'Secret Garden' by Hans Op de Beeck

Secret Garden is a silent and poetic, but also rather absurd representation of a city garden. In this work, Op de Beeck refers to the humanization and domestication of nature; the urge to create a safe, little paradise for ourselves. Note that gardens can also be thought of as one of the earliest large-scale manipulations of nature for aesthetic reasons.

'Frozen Pine' by Makoto Azuma

In Frozen Pine, a Z33 commission, a bonsai pine tree is ‘freeze-sprayed’ and presented in an especially designed refrigerator. The icicles slowly extract the colour from the bonsai tree – the bonsai dies, but its beauty is preserved in optimum conditions.

You may also like: http://brankopopovic.blogspot.com/2010/10/toegepast-15.html

Marina Abramović and fashion

THE DRESS, Marina Abramović, Laos 2008 Photo: Attilio Maranzano, Dress: Riccardo Tisci for GIVENCHY, Courtesy Marina Abramović Archives

In recent years Marina Abramović has brought her practice closer to the fashion world through her collaborations with her close friend, Givenchy’s artistic director Riccardo Tisci.



Marina was interviewed by Donatien Grau Another Mag/ "An Intellectual Fashion/ Marina Abramović"

"In the 1970s I was never interested in fashion. I thought that to be fashionable was to be a less good artist. After I walked the Great Wall of China, which was a great achievement in my life that changed my career, I decided that I didn't need to prove anything to anyone anymore – not least whether or not I was a good artist. I had a secret desire to engage with fashion which I never admitted to myself, so the first time that I ever had serious money, I bought a Yamamoto suit. I felt so good in it, and without guilt! After that, I openly started being interested in fashion and tried to create my own style using different elements of what was fashionable at that moment. Since I met Riccardo Tisci, I have become a faithful admirer of his clothes and I really feel the best in them."

Marina Abramovic wears Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci



Riccardo Tisci, far left, with singer Ciara Harris, actress-singer Bambou, model Diego Fragoso Calheiros Lins, actress Liv Tyler, stylist Panos Yiapanis, models Jonathan Marquez and Mariacarla Boscono, and artist Marina Abramović.
Photographs by Willy Vanderperre


Jean-Baptiste Mondino

Marina Abramović for the January issue Elle Serbia

photographer: Dusan Reljin.

The cover of V Magazine's 67th issue , with supermodel Tyson Ballou. S
he is wearing Givenchy (by Riccardo Tisci)
Photography:Mario Testino
Styling: Nicola Formichetti


The Artist is Present a Homage to Marina Abramović in 125 Magazine

Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (March 14–May 31, 2010)







Editorial image courtesy Fashion Copious


Marina Abramović and Ulay — Relation in Time, 1977

James Blake -Limit to your love

Brilliant cover of the beautiful Feist song.

http://www.jamesblakemusic.com/

Ponyclub, no Trojan women

Last night I had an entertaining evening in AINSI. Im glad my schedule allowed me go to the mime tragedy 'Ponyclub, no Trojan Women' (Ponyclub, geen Trojaanse vrouwen) by Boogaerdt / Vanderschoot.



"If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman" quote by Margaret Thatcher

The Ponyclub is an association of obscure, but well-dressed women wounded in the middle of a burning pile of rubble. In the distance, they make us think of the women of Troy, as described by Euripides, mourned in total disarray among the smoldering ruins of their devastated city. But the women of the Pony club are different, they live now, more than 2000 years later. Instead of succumbing to total despair, these women take matters into their own hands. No men or gods to whom they feel surrendered. No, they decide on their own future and destiny.

'Ponyclub, no Trojan women' is a amusing and recognizable contemporary mime tragedy with a feminine noise against and self-mocking jokes or excuses. Check their tour schedule: http://bvds.nu/speellijst/



Especially for 'Ponyclub, no Trojan women' Boogaerdt / Van der Schoot asked a number of contemporary opinion makers (including Hedy d'Ancona, Marlies Dekkers, Laura van Dolron and Fleur Jurgens) to write pamphlets about their vision of the power of women in the today's world.

Trailer


For more info:http://bvds.nu/


Cosy cultural factory space, AINSI , in Maastricht.





With special thanks to Theater aan het Vrijthof

Cage Against The Machine

Musicians like Pete Doherty, Crystal Fighters and Dan Le Sac gathered at the legendary Dean Street Studios in Soho to re-record John Cages’s celebrated piece, 4'33" as one supergroup. Recreating it in all its four minutes and thirty three seconds of silent glory, that is.



Cage Against The Machine was started by London-based artist Dave Hilliard in summer 2010 as a grassroots Facebook campaign to get John Cage's famous "silent" composition 4'33" to number one this Christmas. With last year's Rage Against The Machine’s anthem ‘Killing In The Name’ as Christmas number one - Jon Morter, one of their chief architects is hoping that "if any Christmas No.1 campaign is going to work... it'll be the John Cage 4'33" one." Now the Facebook community has reached over fifty thousand people committed to buying this single, once again to make a stand against bland, vacuous pop music.

All the proceeds from sales will go to five charities. These music-related charities were chosen by the Cage Against The Machine Facebook community's organisers as something they feel John Cage would have wholeheartedly approved of including The British Tinnitus Association (BTA), Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy, Youth Music, and Sound And Music.

Source: http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/9169/1/cage-against-the-machine

http://www.facebook.com/cageagainstthemachine

Nanine Linning "Synthetic Twin"

Last Thursday, December 9, I paid a visit to Theater aan het Vrijthof, to see the performance "Synthetic Twin". After seeing "The Endless Songs of Silence" during the Nederlandse Dansdagen in October 2010 (Dutch Dance Days), I became a fan of Nanine Linning.


Photographer: Kalle Kuikkaniemi

This talented Dutch choreographer made with "Synthetic Twin" her debut as Artistic Director of Tanztheater Osnabrück.

Synthetic Twin reflects our daily life in the form of a Siamese twin. The extreme desire to tear apart from someone while the desire to merge is a recurring dilemma in our lives. These people who are actually two in one fascinate Linning. But are you one if you have two heads, and your body gives home to two worlds of thought?

For Synthetic Twin, Nanine Linning worked with fashion designer Iris van Herpen, with whom she also worked for “The Endless Song of Silence” and the opera “Madama Butterfly”. This young upcoming fashion talent in the international fashion scene won the Dutch Fashion Award 2010 last November.




Photographer: Kalle Kuikkaniemi

The stage set and the giant video projections are by stage designer Jan Boiten, with whom she previously created successful productions like “Bacon” and "Endless Song of Silence”.

Synthetic Twin is a conceptual performance where the era of Baroque is crossed by the hard and fast world of today. The whole thing is a visual and musical spectacle with some striking images. With her multidisciplinary signature Nanine Linning blends necessarily different art disciplines into a unique and new theatrical language in collaboration with prominent artists from visual art, video, design and fashion.


picture by Branko Popovic

See also this link: "The Endless Songs of Silence"

The show continues to play in several cities in the Netherlands.
TIP: April 7, the performance is scheduled in Theater Heerlen.

For more information: www.naninelinning.nl

Trailer:


The Dancers

picture by Branko Popovic
Meri Ahmaniemi, Emilie Assayag, Christina Bauer, Mallika Baumann, Francesca Imoda, Viviane Frehner, Tommaso Balbo, Gustavo Gomes, Jesse Hanse, Kyle Patrick, Erik Spruit, Niels Weijer