In week 2 of the Shadow Studio we were shown the work of Erwin Wurm and more specifically his One Minute Sculptures exhibition where he provided a series of instructions to the audience and had them replicate his vision and hold for 60 seconds. A series of the sculptures were carried out in class one of which was a shirt on a hanger hung from the lip of the wearer – the general response to whether she was ‘wearing’ the shirt was “from some angles”. If a person stood in the middle of a room and the objects within the space moved closer and closer to the individual at what point would she be dressed by them? Is the act of wearing something purely subject to proximity to self, or is it more dependent on the accepted manner or representation of how a human would traditionally wear something?
these are amazing rose!
ReplyDeleteyour blog is so interesting to read as a lover but outsider to the world of fashion design. Please let me know if you have any showings etc. Would love to come if i happen to be in melbourne. xox ps I just realised I forgot to answer your question! Is it too late?
At what point are we dressed by an object that surrounds us?
ReplyDeleteI think this is an interesting thread as it is something we all do when we choose an object to be part of our intimate interior lives or homes. We furnish our selves with the objects we surround ourselves with: this was the driving force for my fourth year collection actually. They speak to us and for us. Our relationships to these objects are of a particular dialogue, a system of common exchange. I think proximity is an interesting question. Why, when we put something next to our skin, is it only then that we are dressed by it?
We like to view our 'selves' through things. This is exactly what happens when we clothe ourselves in a beautiful garment, suddenly, our 'selves' begin to take on the objects virtuous qualities and so we become part of it and it becomes part of us. We become 'other' constantly in this way. I work in retail and it is forever fascinating to watch people react to the image of themselves as seen through a new object of clothing. We are such vicarious beings.
But there is certainly something to be said about this close relationship of object to body, or object to self. Like when there is a pool of sunlight, you really only soak in the benefits when you are standing in it and your skin is absorbing its warm energy. Only to view it at a distance is somewhat painful, as it is not yet in you, or of you. I almost feel the same way about beautiful images or things, you want to mediate yourself with their beauty and (virtuous qualities), you want to be them, possess them, soak in their energy and radiate it back out again.
When I was a child I remember one day I stuck a whole bunch of magazine cut outs all over my body, mainly of flowers and hairstyles, pretty faces and the odd item of clothing or teddy bear. All things I wanted to possess not only through ownership but through their image in relation to myself… now that I think about it, I think I was onto something.