HUSSEIN CHALAYAN

‘From fashion and back’
show at the design museum London



Leading the forefront of contemporary fashion design, the twice named 'British Designer of the Year,' Hussein Chalayan, is renowned for his innovative use of materials, meticulous pattern cutting and progressive attitudes to new technology.

This exhibition is the first comprehensive presentation of Hussein Chalayan’s work in the UK. Spanning fifteen years of experimental projects, the exhibition explores Hussein Chalayan's creative approach, his inspirations and the many themes which influence his work such as cultural identity, displacement and migration.

Exhibits include ‘Afterwords’ which explores the notion of ‘wearable, portable architecture’ in which furniture literally transforms itself into garments; ‘Airborne’ - bringing the latest LED technology to fashion design with a spectacular dress consisting of Swarovski crystals and over 15,000 flickering LED lights; ‘Before Minus Now’ a dress made of materials used in aircraft construction which changes shape by remote control and ‘Readings’ a dress comprising of over 200 moving lasers presenting an extraordinary spectacle of light.

http://www.designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2009/hussein-chalayan


I had heard a little about Chalayan before, most have come across the infamous table that transforms into a skirt. However there is much more to this extraordinary inventive designer. His approach is very creative and influences to his work are varied and include genetics, technological progress, displacement and cultural identity. It seems he uses fashion as a way to get across varied concepts and He regularly extents his ideas into museums exhibitions and art installations. While also creating beautiful and wearable clothes that give us a vision of the future. Defiantly one of the best shows I have seen this year.

Here are a few of his works I found partially interesting:

BEFORE MINUS NOW (spring /summer 2000)

These tactile sculptured dresses look like they have been carved into the way you would think of sculpting wood or stone. I later found out these dresses were part of a collection exploring the relationship between mankind, technology and natural forces. These items were inspired by the way it which mountains are formed after centuries of tectonic movement and erosion of the earth. Chalayan started with a shapeless bale of tulle that was curved and cut into gradually to space it into a regular dress shape.



AFTERWORDS (Autumn/Winter 2000)

This collection includes the renowned ‘table skirt’ and is inspired by the plight of refugees from Cyprus, Chalayan homeland, during the ethnic cleansing prior to 1974. The collection explores how people react when they go through the horror of having to leave home suddenly, they want to hide their possessions or the carry them with them as they leave.
The show starts and it’s more of a stage setting than a conventional catwalk, with a modernist style sitting room off to the right of the large white stage.
In a way Chalayans shows are very much a performance, each item part of a narrative that is built up throughout the event. The audience feel something amazing is going to happen and it does!

Within the room the clothes are disguised as chair covers, each one different from the next, as the models pin and space them around their bodies. Chairs become suitcases; folding down in to neat rectangles they become the perfect accessory.

And then the final performance: A single model sashays out onto the stage; she carefully pulls the central part of the table out. Stepping in too the middle she lifts the innermost piece revealing beautiful shaped wood that cascaded perfectly around her.

After the models have clothes themselves and left , the room becomes empty and lifeless once more.

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN (spring/summer 2007)

This was the most groundbreaking and inspiring collection out of all Chalayans work. The focus of this clothing collection was how much fashion has been influenced and shaped by the last one hundred and eleven years. Including wars, revolutions, and political and social changes.

The final dresses were mechanical (some videos below), so once on the catwalk the dress would start to morph from one era’s style to another. The way the fabric seemed to suddenly pull at different parts of the body and other details would appear was breathtaking. Each dress more carefully crafted than then next, a stunning mix of technology, history and fashion .

two hours

pinhole

new thinking

This Started when I found the studio space, constricting, suffocating and soul destroying. I needed to change my feeling about this space the solution came in the form of a brief received from my elective class, make a 1 min film called ‘being animal’. I climbed around the space exploring every surface, reacting to the room in a new way.

This is when I found a hidden space

A non-space
An in-between space.
A space that is part of a larger room but has been cut off from the rest of the space by a fake wall. A thin slice of space has been created between the fake wall and the actual wall.
I have adopted this space and used it as the main subject of my work.

My recent work in this space and other work focuses on boundaries, and the construction and breaking of boundaries in certain settings..

In a series of ongoing performance work ‘behind wall /non-space’ I have created a barrier between the masses and me. These works all relate to this certain non-space. I have been conducting different performances and durational events in this space as well as using it for a place to read, write and eat.
I have separated myself from the group.

Since more people have noticed me climbing into the space and are aware I am using it, it is not a sacred hideaway anymore.
But this has resulted in the space becoming my territory
Just like people allocate desks for themselves in the communal space, my allocated area is behind the boards.
This is the space I have chosen and it is mine.

In my space I have a certain power, as I am hidden.
My presents could be felt even when I’m absent.

I played on this idea of my absent presents by recording sounds of me moving around this space.
Then played these noises of human activity back through speakers hidden behind the wall.
The occasional recorded bump or cough would mislead people in to believing I was there.

Did people self-police or regulate them because they think I’m eavesdropping?
Is my hidden self controlling the larger audience?

I captured the duration of this recording using a pinhole camera. With the sound being played while the exposure was taking place, my present is captured in the image.

In both the performance and the photo, I am absent but a presence it felt.
The pinhole camera captures the aura of a being, by the slight change of light and shadow. They are visible even after they have gone. Both the sound and the light are traces of actions. The indication of human existence.


My investigation has dithered between the issues of the non-space and about the relationship between people in the space.

Initially I was interested in this space that has no purpose. This non-space in-between a wall and a room. I wanted to investigate this space, create a new use for it. Give it a purpose.

Cildo Meireles describes corners as,
‘Place where there is no action place of total refuge’

This clarifies how I feel about this in-between space.
It’s a place to hide and be secure

One of Meireles works ‘through’ 1983-9, an installation, Includes a number of barriers placed on a ground of broken glass (every step has a satisfying crunch) The work compels us to enter but also confronts us with the different barriers. The familiar barriers have shifting memories attached to them.

Now I have built up a relationship with this place it seems like it belongs to me. There is a very clear barrier between the actual room and my space.
And the impression I get is that people now associate the space with me.
Would they feel like they were trespassing if they came into my space?

The study has developed into an investigation in to how people react and feel about the place. Through actions I amplify and highlight the divide between them and me.
Who is the audience and who is the performer?
I listen to their conversations and them moving around.
I am invisible to them, but they feel me watching.


‘Fernsehturm’ is an ongoing work, which involves me breaking down boundaries.

The Fernsehturm (German for "television tower") is a television tower in the city centre of Berlin, Germany. The former German Democratic Republic (GDR) constructed this well-known landmark, close to Alexanderplatz, between 1965 and 1969. In the "communist state". It was said that it was built to imply power and also a means to spy over the wall.

I climb over a wall, take a photo, them once printed place the photo on the wall, which was originally climbed.
I like the idea of this photo describing the action that took place so it could exist. The photo acts as a trace of the climb.
I think this project also taps into everyone natural desire to see what behind a wall.

Artists
Joseph Beuys – ‘Like America and America Likes Me’ 1974
Durational performances,how long does it take until the real work begins.
Vito Acconci –hidden presence.
Matthew Barney and Rirkrit Tiravanija – emerging after the black Monday crash (1987) they created art that was about a way of living rather than the production of objects.
Tiravanija wanted to ‘dispose of the artist as a hero to create the artist as a host’ (‘Now is for ever ... Again, essay by Francesco Bonami)
Martin creed- playful and simple to get ideas across.
Erwin Wurm- the impact of the final image.
Robert Morris – ‘the notion that work is an irreversible process ending in a static icon-object no longer has much relevance ‘

Photo Remake
A new series of works, this is a project I have wanted to do for a while. It quite an playful idea. I asked a number of people to email me any photo of their choice and told them I would make a copy and return it to them within a certain time frame.
Rules for this one-day project included: each photo remake must be constructed and completed within 30mins and a certain group of object could be used, none could be added.
The process is hidden from the viewer; they are only presented with a final image.