Astonishing exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery about avant-garde Japanese fashion from early 1980's to now. From space curation to the collections on display and videos on, everything was close to perfection.
"Japanese fashion design made an enormous impact on the international fashion scene in the late 20th century and designers such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto redefined the very basis of fashion through their radical formal language, intellectual approach and ingenious reinterpretation of tradition. Their works are shown alongside Kawakubo's protégé, the techno-couturier Junya Watanabe, together with the acclaimed Jun Takahashi, and the new generation of radical designers including Tao Kurihara, Matohu, Akira Naka and mintdesigns." - Barbican Art Gallery
Exhibition curated by fashion historian Akiko Fukai, Director and Chief Curator of the Kyoto Costume Institute. I love the way he created a plinth for (almost) each costume on display. It recalls my final project at Central Saint Martins, which was about space curation.
Along with the plinths, walls of magic fabric recalling Japanese paper, defined the space giving a certain feeling of warmth and guidance.
This was indeed one of the best exhibitions I've ever seen.
The exhibition is co-organised by Barbican Art gallery and the Kyoto Costume Institute.
This video was on. "Notebooks on Cities and Clothes" by Wim Wenders with Yohji Yamamoto.
Last Saturday I went to The Barbican to see an amazing performance. Called T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna and performed by TR Warszawa Polish Company, it is inspired by Pier Paolo Pasolini's cult film Teorema.
In T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T. the stage transited such aesthetic sensibility achieved by spatial layout and light I could almost fell part of me in each centre of the action. Everything was there, exposed to all of us and all of them, yet everything was individual where boundaries were not physical.
There's a good article on MARK Magazine about his architectural projects.
This is one of my favorite pieces of Ron Arad's work. The combination between scale, form and materials makes this object perfect. The little boy is a great scale reference.
A Jean Prové chair protected by Arad.
I find amazing the way Arad plays with materiality and form. The paradox between the overwhelming form in a transparent fabric gives it a great balance.
One off – everyone wants a one off.
Arad designed this rug to Nanimarquina , my very favorite rug company. Poufs are by Moroso.
View from the above galleries.
“Ron Arad: Restless explores three decades of Arad’s work from his early post-punk approach of assembling products from readymade parts to his exclusive and highly polished sculptural objects. Featuring a dramatic exhibition design using the latest LED display technology, the exhibition also includes architectural designs and immediately recognizable mass produced pieces” – Barbican Art Gallery.
Ron Arad had a big impact on my early career as a designer. I was totally inspired and engaged with stainless steel. This exhibition brought me back the wish to talk about my early work and my aspirations as a designer, but I’ll leave the enthusiasm for another post towards the end of the week. Stay tuned.
One of the things that I really like about the way the show was curated is the lack of huge texts explaining the designer/artist work. A few caption naming each piece, but that’s about it. I like the way they "allow" viewers to “assess” each piece on their own.
"Everything influences everything. You're welcome to your interpretation" - RA @ Mark #24 magazine
"Happy Days" (It really reminds my primary school desk, and those were indeed happy days)
Work in progress.
This and the next chair are beautifully made. Layers and layers of quite thin tubes/wires. So much texture.
"Bodyguard"
I’ve so many photographs that I thought it would be better if I post a few today and a few more tomorrow, otherwise my article is going to be too long.
To read more about the exhibition, Dezeen has a nice article on it.
