<A way beyond/><fashion>
curated by Robert PunkenhoferSeptember 16 to October 24, 2009
Opening reception: Wednesday, September 16, 6-8 pm
Including live performances by Liquid Loft and Jenny Marketou
Participating artists and designers include:
Acconci Studio, Hussein Chalayan, DJ MIRA*, Carla Fernández, Rudi Gernreich, Terence Gower, Edwina Hörl & so+ba, Liquid Loft, Jenny Marketou, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Takehiko Sanada
Art and fashion’s influence on the definition of society, identity and culture as well as the relationship between fashion design, cultural engagement and performative action constitute the thematic core of the exhibition A Way Beyond Fashion, curated by ART&IDEA’s Robert Punkenhofer. The exhibition will take place at apexart, 291 Church Street, New York.
One starting point for conveying an artistic claim in the field of fashion and fashion’s function as an identity-building, social, technical and aesthetic genre can be found in the work of the late designer Rudi Gernreich. He is recognized as one of the 20th century’s most influential fashion designers and was responsible for creating Total Look and Unisex fashion. Rudi Gernreich’s designs break through the limits of fashion.
“A Way Beyond Fashion showcases a selected group of creatives who blur the lines about art and fashion, work with political, socio-cultural and ecological issues and whose works analyze the dynamics of a globalized fashion world”, says Robert Punkenhofer. In this exhibition, fashion is seen as the interface between the individual and society, between art, architecture, technology and design. Fashion acts as a social skin through which the natural confines and limits of the body can be surpassed. Transience and variety, the confrontation with the individuality and also the anonymity of a media-driven fashion industry gives artists and designers an opportunity to articulate innovative concepts. In contrast to the everyday relationship the consumer has with fashion, A Way Beyond Fashion deals with the questions of our society which are rooted in complex issues of identity as well as ecological and technical developments.
On Friday, September 18, 6.30-8 pm, apexart is also the venue of a panel discussion on the same subject. The discussion is hosted by Robert Punkenhofer. Invited speakers include Vito Acconci, Carla Fernández, Jenny Marketou, and threeasfour.
This exhibition at apexart is supported in part by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Art and Culture, the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, the Mexican Cultural Institute, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Greenwich Collection Ltd., The William Talbott Hillman Foundation, and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.
For more information visit: www.apexart.org/exhibitions/punkenhofer.htm. For more information on ART&IDEA and its programs you can also contact Reanne Leuning.
