Intro
Modus
Neue Kunst Halle St. Gallen, St. Gallen
2 September–26 November 2006
Content
Several international artists were invited to design fabrics in cooperation with legendary St. Gallen textile companies Forster Rohner and Jakob Schläpfer and eventually stage their collaborations in an exhibition. Fashion is an ambivalent social phenomenon, which has its roots in very diverse individual and collective needs and is subject to constant change. To quote French novelist Marcel Proust: "Fashions change because they originate from a need for change."
Indeed an important characteristic of fashion is its constant change. For centuries a very strict dress code was in place. The unambiguous and intelligible quality of dress language has disappeared in the post-modern society, and consequently the chance of individual self-design has increased. Today, the canonization of fashion is acute and omnipresent. As such it is only plausible that art should once again address the magic of this consumer good. The participating artists were chosen less because they have experience of textile design and more due to their interest in social phenomena.
Co-curated by Michelle Nicol
Artists:
Liam Gillick, Mai-Thu Perret, Pierre Vadi, Rosemarie Trockel, Thea Djordadze, Gerda Scheepers, RothStauffenberg