15 April – 15 May 2016

Exhibition opening: 15 April, 7pm

Conference ART NEXT TO FASHION: 10–11 May 2016

curator: Mateusz Kozieradzki

artists: Łukasz Biliński, Maciej Boryna, Bartosz Maria Chmielewski, Iwona Demko, FROL – ZALESKY, Elżbieta Gądek, Anna Halarewicz, Hubert Kołodziejski, Katarzyna Konieczka, Szymon Kurpiewski / Anna Maria Adamczuk, Dawid Paweł Lewandowski, Michał Łojewski / UEG, Zvonko Markovic, Karol Miętkiewicz, Magdalena Moskwa, Katarzyna Smoczyńska, Katarzyna Widmańska, YES, Paweł Zawiślak, Paweł Żukowski

Sponsorship and honorary patronage: YES

I enjoy smashing people’s heads. I enjoy making them spin and disturbing their peace of mind, I love taking them into a different world for twenty minutes.

Alexander McQueen

The exhibition is fashioned as an experiment and has come into being in response to the lack of similar exhibition initiatives in Poland. There have been only few exceptions in which contemporary fashion was presented primarily in the context of art as opposed to the historical and social contexts; one such exception was the exuberant presentation Wonderingmode realised in CoCA in Toruń in 2013.

ART next to FASHION aims to illustrate the relationship between fashion and art on the basis of a selection of projects by contemporary Polish designers who often object to being labelled as artists. Their interdisciplinary approaches escape a clear-cut categorization, but constitute a particularly interesting research field to be observed from an artistic point of view.

Graphic art will play the dominant role in the exhibition. Illustrations evidently inspired by fashion will be juxtaposed with a number of drafts by the Serbian designer Zvonko Marković whose projects won much acclaim at this year’s New York Fashion Week. The presented works include illustrations by some of the top-tier Polish illustrators who have gained international renown, such as Anna Halarewicz, Hubert Kołodziejski, Elżbieta Gądek, Katarzyna Smoczyńska and Paweł Zawiślak. The illustrative section is complemented by two works by Łukasz Biliński, which make use of drawing and painting techniques.

The presented works will also include photographs, two of which come from the duo FROL – ZALESKY (the best project prize awarded by VOGUE Italy in 2011). The clothes presented on the pictures were designed by Varvara Frol. Additionally, the exhibition will be supplemented with three films by these authors.

The series of six photographs entitled Tribute to Moda Polska by Paweł Żukowski forms an anthology of works by Polish designers selected by the artist.

Another group of works is composed of the photographs by Katarzyna Widmańska and Maciej Boryna taken at the photo sessions with models presenting costumes designed by Katarzyna Konieczka. The photographs will be juxtaposed with the works by Konieczka, one of Poland’s most important costume designers. Her projects have won international acclaim and were worn on stage by such controversial figures as Lady Gaga.

The costumes by Konieczka will be displayed side by side with the designs of Karol Miętkiewicz, a young artist from Toruń, who has drawn much inspiration from her work. The costumes by him were photographed by Dawid Paweł Lewandowski at the photo session specially organized on the premises of CoCA in preparation for this exhibition.

The exhibition also includes designs by Magdalena Moskwa, who creates high quality objects outside of the sphere of applied art; the costumes, which resemble overalls, serve to collect body imprints.

The digital collages by Szymon Kurpiewski, who draws heavily on the history of art and popculture, will be presented beside the jacket by Anna Maria Adamczuk, who transferred these works onto the fabric of clothes designed by her.

A separate part of the exhibition will be dedicated to works dealing with such topics as ecology, feminism and suffering, either in terms of the form or purpose. The feminist discourse is particularly noticeable in the works by Iwona Demko – her vulvar jewellery is designed for confident women, as emphasised by the artist. The interest in science, and zoology in particular, can be observed in the remarkably original jewellery by Bartosz Maria Chmielewski, who makes use of natural insects. The context of natural environment protection is presented in the material chosen for manufacturing the clothes by UEG of Michał Łojewski – they are made of paper, which is entirely biodegradable.

The exhibition is complemented with the jewellery produced by its honorary patron – the jewellery company YES.

Tags: art, exhibition, fashion