A WAY BEYOND FASHION

Apexart (New York), 16th September to 24th October, 2009
Participating artists and designers:
Acconci Studio, Hussein Chalayan, DJ MIRA, Carla Fernández, Rudi Gernreich, Terence Gower, Edwina Hörl & so+ba, Liquid Loft, Jenny Marketou, Lucy + Jorge Orta and 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 Robert Punkenhofer.

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 dealt with complex issues of identity as well as ecological and technical developments. The selected 11 artists and designers blurr the lines between the two disciplines when exploring phenomena related to the global fashion industry in their performances, public art actions, films, animations and installations- all as a means of juxtaposing the prevailing discourse on identity and media-related consumption patterns with entirely new concepts and forms of articulation.

See also a panel discussion hosted by Robert Punkenhofer and invited speakers including Vito Acconci, Carla Fernández, Jenny Marketou, and threeasfour.

The exhibition was 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 Apexart’s website.
essay_A Way Beyond Fashion
brochure from A Way Beyond Fashion