MAFAD Graduation Expo 2018

Nathan Klein

MAFAD (Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design) presented their newest graduates; the class of 2018. With an exhibition staged at the academy MAFAD presents the Design and Fine Arts graduates. This year, the design department in particular showcased an energetic exhibition with multiple future promises. The class of 2018 shows creativity with engaging themes withiout losing sense for commercial potential.
Twelve of them already caught attention at FASHIONCLASH Festival under the name Collective 12. Nathan Klein took away the Chapeau Magazine Award and selection for Lichting 2018 with his personal coming-of-age collection 'The First Time He Kissed a Boy'.
"I was inspired by a teenage experience that left me questioning myself. A loss of innocence during adolescence, the moment just before a teenage crush burst its dam and becomes a fully fledged first love, the is a story about coming-of-age." Kalkidan Hoex created a series of jewelry inspired by her Ethiopian heritage, mixing youth cultures and illustration, she presented a strong and cohesive proposal.
Pia Walter merged contemporary and digital lives together with raw nature by working with recycled tents, army equipement and prints. She is the second finalist for the national best of graduate show the Lichting.  Nienke Creemers showed an engaging protest collection inspired by the history of cotton. 'UNPICKING COTTON' is a protest against the fashion industry and it's rich history of abuse. "While making my collection I tried to make everything as fair and ecological as possible. Soon i discovered this wasn't possible. Even though my intentions were good, I couldn't achieve a 100% fair collection. The knowledge about the industry's history and how we view fashion now, made me think: Did our colonial history influence the way the fashion industry is now?" 
Laura van der Spoel presented a collection of textiles inspired by the attemt to inspire people to stand out from the crowd. Her material experiments were translated into garments and presented on models showing the potential to design for both fashion as interiur market. Sam Schobbe showed ready to wear commercial potential with her print collection inspired by the positive characteristics from ADHD. With this personal inspiration her attempt was to make her ADHD tangible.  
Michelle Zwinkels and Bojanna Aleksić, both experimented with boundaries between jewelry, accessories and fashion design around the body. While Anke Bos merged illustration and textile with her project 'Teleurgang van de millennials'.

Bert Snaterse

At the Fine Arts department Morena Bamberger stood out with an installation inspired by dream images. Her work ‘Reinconnection’ earned her the Gilbert de Bontridderprijs 2018 award. A large space was completely transformed into a cave expressing her own dream world and imagination. The work of Bert Snaterse was presented in various rooms.
Inspired by 'the body and the physical', 'the light on a discarded mattress' and the fact' that the color pink has only been a girls' color since the 1950s', the work of Bert seems quirky and banal, but while taking a closer look we discovere sincere layers of

Take a look at the picture report
all images are by brankopopovicblog

MAFAD Graduation Show 2018

Nienke Creemers

Under the name Collective 12, twelve graduates from Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design joined forces and presented their collections at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2018. Presenting various visions, material experiments and relevant themes their passion came across. Nathan Klein and Pia Walter are selected for the Lichting Show, the best of graduate show in The Netherlands. Nathan Klein was also awarded with Chapeau Magazine Talent Award during the festival.

Graduates: Nathan Klein, Nienke Creemers, Pia Walter, Sam Schobbe, Laura Van der Spoel, Nieke Verkennis, Michelle Zwinkels, Bojanna Aleksic, Helen Hentschke, Jessie Witters, Valéry Fiddelaers, Pauline Hetger

More info: www.facebook.com/COLLECTIVE12 / Instagram @Collective_12

Picture report by brankopopovciblog, Ginger Bloemen

Nulla - dance film by Jean Claude Billmaier

Nulla is the latest film by New York-based motion picture director Jean Claude Billmaier. The film represents a carefully constructed study of movement, with a crescendo of tension and energy being unleashed to an original score by long-standing collaborator, R&B singer and producer Toulouse.

Nulla | Dance Film from Jean Claude Billmaier on Vimeo.

Developed as a response to our work-driven lifestyles, Nulla visually expresses the daily struggle of the everyday person in winding down and resetting one’s energy levels back to zero. Tension is portrayed as having a life of its own; it slowly makes itself known, settles and then returns as a disruptive force seeking to be released.

“Emotions such as anxiety, stress and anger are often portrayed as negative forces trapped within ourselves. With Nulla I wanted to create a place in which all our tensions are released, with the process itself being something ecstatic and gratifying. It’s the release, and finally being able to breathe, that we should be focusing on.” - Jean Claude Billmaier

This level of tension is achieved through Loni Landon’s dance direction and Evan Copeland’s powerful performance. Working within the confined space of a hotel room, Landon translated the director’s vision into frantic shapes and quick bursts of movement. In particular, she highlighted the performer’s physical confinement by focusing on specific body parts, such as the neck, hands and feet. The film was choreographed with no music and shot with a handheld camera, allowing Copeland to spontaneously experiment with movements, textures and rhythm and work on a fast and constant buildup and release of energy.

“Nulla focuses on a theme that many people can relate to. Expressing it meant showing the feeling of confinement using a small space, which made the creative process even more exciting. Finding possibility within limitation is always interesting.” - Loni Landon

Toulouse’s original score complemented the action, crafting an emotionally eerie and surreal soundscape. This film was an opportunity for the musician to compose to dance for the first time. He elaborated on Billmaier’s theme of tension and release by portraying the initial body movements through a tense sonic design, while gradually building momentum with a constant pulsing rhythmic element. He then interpreted the dancer’s final energy release with a series of percussive, soaring beats.

The addition of the over one hundred VFX shots amplifies the ecstatic, yet strenuous process of energy being discharged. By playing with the idea of invisible shards imprisoning us, Billmaier reflects on how our self-imposed restraints only become visible once we acknowledge them and are able to break away from them.

Credits
Director: Jean Claude Billmaier @jcb.haus
Original score by Toulouse @musicbytoulouse
Featuring Evan Copeland  @evanmcopeland
Produced at JCB Haus Producer: Joshua Bennet
Choreographer: Loni Landon @lonifaye
Director of Photography: Sam Cutler-Kreutz @samcutlerkreutz
Gaffer: Josh Herzog @josherzog
Editor: Sascha Taylor Larsen @satisfiedsascha
Visual Effects and Color: Justin Levine @j.r.levine
Sound Design: Bobb Barito @baritobobb 

Recap FASHIONCLASH Festival 2018

The Pink Church

Fashion My Religion!
 
FASHIONCLASH presented with Fashion My Religion! the 10-year anniversary edition of the international and interdisciplinary FASHIONCLASH Festival. During the 15th, 16th and 17th of June 2018 more than 150 promising designers and stage performers from countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Finland, Uruguay and many more where given the stage at the festival. The festival program was composed within a 3-day program The Route: an inspiring pilgrimage along 26 locations with expositions, theatre- and dance performances and talks.

Several projects where specially initiated for the festival, for example the God Is A Woman!? project for which ten designers where invited to create an outfit that is based on research on a subject that is related to the theme ‘Fashion My Religion, focussing on the research on social intolerances exist and how fashion can play a role in creating more inclusivity.

The festival opened in the Gashouder on Friday June 15.  Not only was there pie but also the campaign cakes from Das Leben am Haverkamp could be admired from up close. The opening guests could choose from four routes: Museum, Church, City and Sally. Each route consisted of a number of elements from the program such as the Koorkappen exhibition in the Bonnefantenmuseum, dance performance LUX by Sally Dance Company in the Brandweer, Babel collection installation by Kasper Jongejan, Showpieces exhibition in the Bijenkorf, Inspired by Religion exhibition in 't Dinghuis, installation of Amber Jae Slooten in Entre Deux and Day Dream Space installation / performance by Tim Scheffer and Audrey Apers in Centre Ceramique.

Opening tour of The Route

The Pink Church
On Friday, a rather controversial and much-discussed pink church was literally blown up at the historic square the Vrijthof, where a themed program was organized with a number of speakers in collaboration with Waardengedreven. The Pink Church got a lot of attention and while the churches in the Netherlands are getting empty, the pink church was packed with fashionable guests.

Fashion Shows
The Fashion Show program with more than 30 designers and 12 MAFAD graduates took place on Saturday evening, a spectacular evening in a setting designed by Studio AKATAK and Scott Robin Jun. There were many highlights such as Carlijn Veuring, Annaïss Yucra Mancilla, Daria D'Ambrosio, Jacqueline Loekito, SorteMaria, Teun Seuren, Matteo Carlomusto and Zahra Hosseini. During the show program the impressive LUX was presented, the dance performance of Sally Dance Company, tenth edition of the CLASH Project and Noumenon performance by Mami Izumi and Jivika Biervliet.

Beckhomorehena by Zahra Hosseini
Show scenography Studio Akatak & Scott Robin Jun

Awards 
After the shows four Awards were presented. And the winners are:
- FASHIONCLASH Festival Award: Filipe Augusto
- KALTBLUT Magazine Award: HENKJENZ
- CHAPEAU Magazine Talent Award: Nathan Klein
- Vancouver Fashion Week Award: STEVEN VANDERYT and Rita Sá

Nathan Klein

Fashion Talk
On Sunday there was a program in the LAB Building / Forza Fashion House with three performances and The Fashion Dialogue: a CLASH or VALUES, a talk organized in collaboration with MIND FASHION with special speakers Maaike de Haardt, Dai Rees, José Teunissen, Ben Wubs, Adam Peacock and Mariangela Lavanga.

Performances
The tenth edition was one with many clashes with which the FASHIONCLASH platform gave stage to the experiment that goes beyond fashion. The festival presented a series of theme related theater and dance crossovers, including the performance 'HUNTING' by Nora Ramakers and Timo Tembuyser, a co-production with VIA ZUID, ORACLES by Anna Luka da Silva and Erik van de Wijdeven and 'MISSA HOMO SACER Op. 35 Confiteor Deo' by Timo Tembuyser. At the Mosae Forum shopping center, a special project was presented, called Dialoque Between Fashion and Death by Nina Willems, who collaborated with fashion designer Marlou Breuls and director Eva Line de Boer, based on the romantic poem by Giacomo Leopardi. At Lumière Cinema the performance took place 'I Am Sad', a project by Margreet Sweerts that showed the research of the project Festival of Sadness that will take place in the autumn.

LUX - Sally Dansgezelschap Maastricht

One of the festival highlights was LUX, the dance performance of SALLY Dance Company Maastricht. A choreography by Martin Harriague in collaboration with Maastricht fashion designer Mieke Kockelkorn, inspired by the written word in religion. And last but not least, the number of talented students from Academy of the performing Arts Maastricht who presented their performances, including Anthony van Gog, Timo Tembuyser, Anna Luka da Silva and Kimberly Afua Agyarko.

Dialoque Between Fashion and Deathat Mosae Forum

For more information about the festival and participants: fashionclash.nl

Take a look at some highlights
All pictures: brankopopovicblog

Das Leben am Haverkamp