Contextual Studies Lecture - Clothes as Objects and Images

Fashion vs. Art is the big debate. 


Personally I think it undermines the design practise for a designer in any field to call themselves artists. I believe that this implies that they are better and somewhat supreme; that they hold some form of president over the rest of their peers. This is only my view and I appreciate that other people out there will not agree.


The design world is equally creative but the big difference is the functionality of their work. By definition art is ornamental, it's only purpose is that it has no purpose. Yet, I do feel that the boundaries are been broken down. I absolutely love pieces which are interactive and involve the viewer. 


Anyway... what did we cover today?


1. Rights of passage and the symbolic meaning of clothing in a cultural context. Robert Gober in his 1989 installation challenges our initial conceived ideas and the framework of marriage.


2. Cecil Beaton's photograph of Martita Hunt playing the old spinster Miss Havisham in 'Great Expectation'. 


3. Otto Kunzli's 42 wedding rings necklace. Symbolic of personal stories and relationships that once were.


4. Annette Messager, 1991, 'Histoire de Robes'
Work which looks at the meaning and context of clothing. Their sentiment and the lifestyle they entail.


5. Tomoko Huyashi 2004 Absent
Imprints of jewellery which signify a link or a connection. The object is worn by one and the  negative space by the other.


6. 18/19th C Hair Jewellery. Made from human hair which was worked into shapes and considered a genteel ladies hobby. In today's society this would be deemed as a bit odd since the context and understanding of the human body has changed. Originally it signified a close relationship. Interestingly, poor women and prostitutes sold their hair for extra money; this causes the jewellery to lose its initial sentiment and then become 'fashion'.


7. Jana Sterbak. Various works were discussed. I was lucky enough to see one of her meat dresses at an exhibition at the Pompidou centre in Paris. It was an exhibition that contained the work of purely female artists and was very interesting to see work without a male quality. She is really interested in gender roles and preconceptions of these role we play in society. 


8. Christian Boltanski ' Holy Week' 1994. Many of Boltanski's work includes clothes which once belonged to people, therefore they must have some sentiment behind them however we will never learn about this sentiment. It often references the Holocaust and the stripping down of an identity. The various settings give the clothes varied meaning in each place.


I was also lucky enough to see a Boltanski exhibition in Paris at the Grande Palais. 'Momenta 2010' was amazing to see and experience and experience is the key word here. Somehow he managed to involve you with the piece and you feel like you belong. There was also the option to donate your heartbeat to the archives he is collecting of thousands of people across the world.


9. Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rebecca' 1940. I absolutely love this film and it is not due to the namesake! Hitchcock is fantastic as creating suspense and I feel that he did Daphne Du Maurier proud ( the author of the book). Here we see how the personality and spirit of the dead first wife is shown through her possessions and the luxe clothes she owned without ever having to see anything else.


10. Naomi Filmer for Shelley Fox. Ear-behind Plate 1999 Ceramic (also a series in ice and other materials)
She has worked with a variety of designers to create interesting and conceptual jewellery pieces. They are all about negative space and individual pieces.


11. How has this all fed into modern popular culture? Lady Gaga's meat dress (and more recently prosthetics and rebirth from an egg!) cause a variety of different interpretations. PETA were horrified, fashion designers saw it as a subversive statement and a butcher interviewed by the sun just saw it as a variety of cuts of meat (typical sun storyline!)


There is plenty to discuss but I feel I have covered the general idea behind the lecture

IPP Learning Blog... The Aim

The Learning Blog is your personal visual, written and, possibly, even aural record (using the blog technology provided) of your progress throughout all of your studies. You should use your Learning Blog to:

• keep a record of your course lectures, research, readings, practical exercises, insights and influences, describing what you have learnt, what you think about what you have learnt and why
• show and comment on examples of your practical/creative work, describing how in the process of developing your work you have integrated your learning or generated new learning
• record your personal thinking and reflections on all of the above as well as relevant activities outside your course.
• record the specialist and transferable skills you are building.

2011 TED Prize Winner: JR

I adore Fashion photography but I would not consider myself well enough informed about it and that is something that I need to improve on. 


This work however really caught my attention. I love the idea of these guerrilla photographers who paste these powerful images throughout the streets. The use of paper provides ephemeral qualities and highlight the transience of human life (and life in general).


''JR exhibits his photographs in the biggest art gallery on the planet. His work is presented freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not museum visitors. His work mixes Art and Action; it talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit.'' Quote the YouTube channel

WHY CORPUS COLLOSUM?

The corpus collosum is a bundle of nerve fibres that connect the left side of the brain to the right side. It translates as 'tough body' in Latin.


Although the art and design world influences me; I am still heavily interested in the world of science. I draw upon concepts and theories for my inspiration and the resource is endless.


I guess I want to understand my brain a little bit better and allow other people to understand it too!