INSTALLATION, GROWING SPACE, 2020
This installation is intended to revert the viewer away from the Corona frenzy. The print itself stems from my degree show project which was inspired by how vandalism is beautiful, especially in reference to the vandalisation of a number of colonial statues in the USA in 2016 and again in the UK in 2020 as a response to BLM protests.
It presents itself as a spectacle of exotic plants in a botanical garden like the Q Gardens London, and so the way these textiles look is as though they are trying to get out. An organic cluster of jackets is the final product.
Big thank you to Ecological Textiles Netherlands for supporting this project with beautiful Materials so for Stitching NAC - Kamiel Verschuren curating this exhibition and also big thank you to Growing Space Wielewaal for the space opportunity.
GROUP EXHIBITION AT FOUNDATION B.A.D IN ROTTERDAM 2020
This project is about flowers and their representations on textiles.
More specifically, their utilisation. Floral print exemplifies dressing to look pretty and “nice”. If so, are flowers seen as fake? Can they be a mask by which we entertain others with illusions of prettiness and fragility?
Beyond their overtly feminine context, (which I find to be a poor representation
of female strength), they are also specifically used in a similarly troubling way: In the area of Wielewaal in South Rotterdam, I found many small empty houses had windows that were covered up with a flower print foil. They cover up the crime.
What is more, these houses are waiting to be destroyed so that new, more prestigious (and more expensive) houses replace them. Here again, the appearance seems to be not only secondary to the reality of these derelict buildings, but also a substitute to a sustainable solution such as renovation, restoration and care.
It is also ironic when contextualising flowers in both the fashion and the flower industry. Since they are very large industries, absolutely not beautiful and largely polluting. In essence, floral prints have very little to do with nature.
Big thank you to Foundation b.a.d to give me such a warm welcome to Rotterdam
AUGUST 2020
Zurich based art collective Secret Gäng presented WRAPPED, Believe in you Storage at Perla Mode Gallery, 2015 Zurich
SOLO SHOW AT DISPLAY BERLIN 2019
Is an extension of my CSM Graduate Fashion Print Collection so Mind Your Head!!
The Outlet at Display was to showcase the additional elements of my graduate collection, which would normally be categorised as ‘waste’. In order to recontextualise my processes, scans, tests, unused prints and textiles of my degree show, I gave them the space to present themselves.
The show consisted of, ‘waste’ products and re-established formats:
For example, my scans were printed and then draped and shaped in resin
(see next slide). The car window was an additional found object that was sourced from a scrapyard. It acts as a portal for my unused prints to be displayed over and is a sculpture to be viewed from both sides.
Furthermore, the jumper prints (see right), were labelled and sold as ‘outlet products’ and re-evaluate the process of design once more.
The term outlet itself is a humorous way to indicate they’re ‘imperfection’ and otherness. This also sets a tone of urgency for the viewer. Think Black Friday, but in an installation.
My graduation collection was a big health and safety issue! Please mind the gap.
Thank you, thank you, Thank you
FINAL COLLECTION AT CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS 2018
The following collection mimics historical sculptures in the midst of being transported which also coincides with vandalism. It is the most imperfect moments of a statue’s life.
With this, the statues have a new life, their content is devoured by the contemporary and they no longer hold their royal status.
Our society alterations are more beautiful and certainly more honest than the original idealisations of these works.
Materials used: resin, silk, cotton, wood, Styrofoam, screen printing techniques, digital silk prints, foil, laser cutting, embroidery.
The project was selected for the CSM press show 2018 It has won the Sally Woodward Award.
2013
Collaboration with Mia Špindler
Up State Gallery Zurich
Pile of clothes, anchored with epoxy
FOR GRAYSON PERRY 2016
Some London residential neighbourhoods feel empty and anonymous. Instead of pedestrians and shops, there are trash bins on the street, CCTV cameras and façades of old draped lace curtains. It almost seems as if these curtains cover up the life and you wonder if it is safer behind the curtains or outside.
The custom piece made for and sold to British artist Grayson Perry.
2010
Collaboration with Mayo Irion
The Actionist Art Festival in the spirit of the international DADA Festival.
exhibition at Motel Nirwana Rote Fabrik, Zürich
Installation: Buy your we!ght, brick pieces per gram.
Sale of pieces of the white brick wall to raise money for the bill of the red factory hiring professional painters to paint the white facade back to red after painstakingly having painted the red factory white.
2010
A group of people including Manon Malan painted the whole territory of "Rote Fabrik" (red factory), a cultural center (theoretically youth center since the 80s) in Zürich, white overnight.
It was a loud call for change and with it came a unique base for new creation.
2010 SECRET GÄNG
Work presented in two exhibitions
Perla Moda Gallery Zurich & The Young Artist Award 2010 ZKB Zurich
15 artists got exactly one kilogram of clay delivered by SECRET GÄNG and the task to form a ball (german: Kugel) from it with the following rules:
-use all the clay
-aim for a smooth surface
-no cavity inside
SECRET GÄNG also picked up the balls and paid 50 swiss francs for each one.
complete list of partaking artists coming soon
2014
London
City trash and mountain nostalgia turns into shirt and printed scarf.
GARMENT & SHORT FILM
INFLATABLE GARMENT, WON THE CSM BELANCIAGA AWARD 2016
I wanted to work with the clear influence of a traditional cardinal dress and transform it into a more modern design. During my research, I came across one particular red evening coat of Balenciaga’s Winter Collection 1954, and it caught my eye. I found these historical paintings fascinating and was especially interested in the similarities with Balenciaga’s own design work.
The form of modernity I chose for this piece is the refugee crisis; a highly sensitive and tragic situation that pervades contemporary life. I hope the juxtaposition between the apparent frivolity of the fashion industry and the stark reality of mass migration can help draw attention to this extreme social issue.
I continued documenting and filming material for this project in Lesbos, while I was working in a refugee camp in 2016.
In 2018 I presented my Short film at the Sustainability week in Bilbao.
SECRET GÄNG
open call to dig out old piece of work from storage and enter it in the SECRET GÄNG auction
This print was created by Norman Wilkinson in World War I. It served to camouflage ships and submarines from radar detection. It was the first time in Europe that women had to enter the industry en masse to replace the men that got sent to war.
It was historically the first time in our modern culture where so many women had
a purpose that went beyond the household setting. The role of the woman started to take on different shapes as the Dazzle printed warships did too.
The print is used to create a spectacle out of the woman wearing it, to counteract her previous role in society. The garment, therefore, is made to stand out not blend in.
2012
London
Recycled garments,sprayed, dipped and dried in new shapes later used as a reference for new fashion and print design development.
2011 SECRET GÄNG
Schaukasten Herisau, Switzerland
The big art exhibition, 50 involved artists, in the small showcase
2011 SECRET GÄNG
Zürich
Performance to install new benches for the homeless and junkies whom the city had previously stolen theirs from.
Duration of presence of present to the neighbourhood two weeks.
2010 SECRET GÄNG
group exhibition at the National Gallery in Prague
Euro
Cross
Pony
2010 Accessible Installation in Pignia GR, Switzerland
Collaboration with August Blum
Old farm tools, 5 meters high
The installation is accessible on two levels, one being a stage for sound performance by Stini Arn making music on an old weaving loom.
2009 SECRET GÄNG
crashing the party
Self-invited participation in the diploma exhibition of ZHdK, art university Zürich.
House constructed from old school tables, assembly without nails or screws.
Eight-step guide to getting officially licensed as an artist, printing your own diploma in a few seconds.
350 artists managed to obtain perfect ZHdK diplomas, indistinguishable from the original.
2009 SECRET GÄNG
Production Design
Construction of props inclusive tank (german: Panzer) for music clip helping a campaign for a ban of war-material-export from Switzerland.
warface video clip https://vimeo.com/9864106
Music: Evelinn Trouble
Politics: GSoA (group switzerland without army)
Camera: Carlotta, Iason and Markus.
Production: Sonja Levy
Directed by Benjamin Weiss
