Hussein Chalayan and Post Modern Fashion

Hussein Chalayan

Chalayan is an artist and designer, working in film, dress and installation art. Research Chalayan’s work, and then consider these questions in some thoughtful reflective writing.

1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwords and Burkafashion, or are they art? What is the difference? Not all clothing is fashion, so what makes fashion fashion? 

Fashion

Hussein Chalayan, Burka (1996) 

Burkafashion is a set of words put together. The term burka is an Arabic term formed by the Islamic. Burka may also be referred to as Burqa which is a garment worn by women over their faces only showing their eyes and is traditional garment worn over their bodies also to cover their skin except their eyes.

A Burka can also mean Caucasus a traditional man's coat made from felt or karakul. Burka is also a district in Baghlan province, Afghanistan. So Burkafashion is a style which he formed to put together with a traditional piece and mix it with post modern style.

For the Burka Fashion style, I think that he is trying to play with the official seriousness of the cultural tradition and challenging its tradition not to produce an uproar but to broadcast the meaning of the 

Burka transitioning into post modern work, but in my opinion I see that this is art and fashion because fashion is a part of creativity which relates to the artistic mind ones self concious into developing work.

                         Hussein Chalayan, Afterwords, 2000

 Afterwords is a term related to Epiloque which is a short speech or poem in this case shown through art work/ fashion at the end of a literary work. (Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus (p.277)

For the 'Afterwords' fashion/art work , I feel that this piece is an artwork because you can use it for display for an event but i don't see it as something you would wear out or formal because of its look and structure, this seems as it was made for only art to see but not to be worn out or bought. Putting the viewer in the position of reading what this really means and how the discomfort of wearing this piece would make you feel. To me this piece is giving the viewer something to think of, its telling you a story with few detail but a lot of structure. 

In viewing both of the works and researching the meaning of the words and reading the image, this gives me a different perspective of what is fashion? what makes fashion? what is the difference, I see that the meaning of a piece of work defines its category, fashion or not fashion, it depends on the meaning. For example the Burka, i don't think you'd see someone walking around revealing their bodies and wearing it as a fashion trend. I think fashion is something that can be worn out and where people will see you wearing. The difference between the to in my opinion is that fashion art can be anything but for fashion in general it is things people wear for others to see and be comfortable and isn't as unusual as the Burka and Afterwords. 

2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?

It is still art because they are regenerating ideas from another but instead developing it to relate to their theme and nothing is original, the ideas of arts has to have come from something. Forms of art can be developed through simple things and things already created. I don't thing the meaning of art changes if it is used to sell products, i see that it is also selling the art and the designs attracting people and finding out the meaning of it. 

3. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?

Post Modern, Contemporary, Modern and Hyper Reality. They might have been inspired by Chalayn's work by the meaning behind the piece or either the grasping concept of his work. They may be using clothing but they are also using DNA which involve the people in it. I think the approach they are taking from Chalayn's ideas are from the tradition within which grasps the true nature of what is within and unveiling it to the viewer.

Hussein Chalayan, still from Absent Presence, 2005 (motion picture)

4. Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) and Before Minus Now(2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?

In my opinion I think it is the artist's piece because without the artist the work wouldn't have been made and also he created the idea of what should happen what it should look like and also instructing the helpers what to do. Why ? because he is the artist and creator of the work. When ? when he has thought of the creation and helps develop the idea, an artist must have help with something. It all depends on the artists creation and whoever thought of it and instructed it , they are the true artist. The one who gets it done or tells them how to. But on the other hand there is still a chance that the artist isn't the only artist, there are those who helped. 

Reference:

http://www.aims.org.af/maps/district/baghlan/burka.pdf

Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus (p.277)

http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/chalayan.html http://www.husseinchalayan.com/blog/ 

http://www.husseinchalayan.com/#/home/

http://www.slideshare.net/cjmcd/the-history-of-the-burqa

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Caucasus

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/epilogue

Post-Modernism - Ai Weiwei and Banksy

1. Define Post-Modernism using 8-10 bullet points that include short quotes.

• The term is used in philosophy, literature, social sciences and architecture.
• It is composed by two parts 'post' and 'modern'. Post is Latin for after and modernism refers to the modern period.
• Is associated with relativism. Relativism is the idea that "anything goes"
• No grand narrative, a history, story . One has left the idea of a grand narrative.
• Belief in one truth, or universal criteria, has been substituted by a number if "small stories" and a diversity of criteria.
• Social constructivism, reality is created by social reality, there is no objective knowledge or absolute representation of reality.
• Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality
• a style and concept in the arts characterized by distrust of theories and ideologies and by the drawing of attention to conventions.
• relating to art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles, as by reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or by carrying modernist styles or practices to extremes: 'It [a roadhouse] is so architecturally interesting ... with its postmodern wooden booths and sculptural clock

2. Use a quote by Witcombe (2000) to define the Post-Modern artist.(page 24)
"The post modern artist is "reflexive" in that he/she is self aware and consciously  involved in a process of thinking about him/herself and society in a de-constructive manner, "de-masking" pretensions, becoming aware of his/her cultural self in history, and accelerating the process of self-consciousness."

My definition:
Post modern artist are creators of work that relate to themselves in some way and also show who they are through their works and show it in different ways of revealing what is inside of themselves. 

3. Use the table on pages 47 and 48 in your ALVC handbook to summarize the list of the features of Post-Modernity.

Hyper reality, image saturation, simulacra seem more powerful than the "real": images and texts with no prior "original". "As seen on TV" and "as seen on MTV" are more powerful than unmediated experience.

Play, irony, challenge to official seriousness, subversion of earnestness.

Use this summary to answer the next two questions.

4. Research Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's 'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994)
in order to say what features of the work could be considered Post-Modern.

'Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola logo'(1994), Ai Weiwei

"Hyper reality, image saturation, simulacra seem more powerful than the "real": images and texts with no prior "original". "As seen on TV" and "as seen on MTV" are more powerful than unmediated experience."

Considered to be post modern with these features because the logo on the ancient artefact was notice more then the artefact and more powerful.

Ai Weiwei dropping a Han Dynast Urn.

"Play, irony, challenge to official seriousness, subversion of earnestness." 

In this work of his he shows this feature because he opposes the history of the antique and challenges its official meaning and this was shocking to some who knew of the history of the object. Which is a serious thing. He used history from his culture and challenged official seriousness of the object. 

6. Research British artist Banksy's street art, and analyze the following two works by the artist to discuss how each work can be defined at Post-Modern.

'Flower Riot', Banksy

In the 'Flower Riot' by Banksy, he uses colour and comic like featured form to emphasize post-modernisation. This can be defined as post modern from the opposing images and relativity to society that the image is perceiving. The hoodlum figure is portrayed by holding flowers and this isn't a regular thing for a person like that to hold and you don't see someone dressed like that holding a bouquet that is colourful. Both figures contradict one another and also the meaning of what you see and what it actually means. Sending a symbolic message of war and conquering it with peacefulness.

Los Angeles (2008), Banksy

In the work 'Los Angeles' Banksy, he uses the ancient human form of cave man years to emphasize history of the earth and the present with the food tray. Past and present which are opposites of one another. This is showing post modernism from the philosphy view of things and he shows within his work the nature and reality of existance. In other words seeing we once were cave people and showing the formation of how we came to be and if we were still formed like this. 

Bibliography:

http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/78/DevastatingHistory
http://melroseandfairfax.blogspot.co.nz/2011/04/banksys-riot-painting.htm
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/postmodernism?view=uk 
http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/postm-body.html 
Ruth Reichl, Cook's November 1989; American Heritage Dictionary's definition of "postmodern 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/03/11/how-china-conquered-the-art-world.html
http://theworldsbestever.com/2008/02/new_banksy_pieces_surface_in_l.php
http://timmarshall20.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/postmodernism-style-and-subversion-1970-1990-at-the-v-a-20th-century-toys-boys-and-girls/l
Saugstad, A. (2001). Postmernism: what is it, and what is wrong with it? Retrieved 9 October, 2007 from: http://goinside.com/01/1/postmod.html
Witcombe, C (2000) Modernism & Post Modernism. Retrieved 29 January, 2004 from http://witcombe.sbc.edu?modernism/modpostmod.html
ALVC Resource book

Nathalie Djurberg's 'Claymations'

1) What do you understand by the word 'claymation'?

Claymation is an animation of fine grained earth which is 

moulded into figures that are placed in certain position and captured on film each time the figure is re-positioned in a way that would make the figure seem like it has movement when images are put together animation.

2) What is meant by the term 'surrealistic Garden of Eden'? and 'all that is natural goes awry'?

The Surrealistic Garden of Eden is made of two different meanings. "Surrealistic" is a combination of inappropriate or distorted images, something in a dream. This is a combination of images that are misplaced and put in odd places or made specifically to twist your thoughts of what it actually is. As for "Garden of Eden" this is where the opposite of surrealistic is shown, the Garden of Eden in biblical terms was "the Garden of God" where paradise was.God had placed Adam and Eve there and forbid them to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil but they disobeyed what he had told them and were deprived from the Garden of Eden. So putting Surrealistic and Garden of Eden together explains how twisted and distorted her work is with the opposite scenery of how a garden is meant to look. We usually see gardens as relaxing and peaceful but she shows the opposite. "All that is natural goes awry" , Awry means A twist to one side something negative. And "All that is natural" is words that symbolise the living and the things that have life and that are real. To put those together that would give the meaning that the things that have life and that are real and are living will end up going wrong or end badly. For this we understand that Djurberg's art theme represents death and pain, so "All that is natural goes awry" is stating that all the living things will end up on one side which is death.

3) What are the 'complexity of emotions' that Djurberg confronts us with?

The Different types of feelings and vibes that Djurberg comes face to face with us is mostly directed strait to life and death. Some feelings that show through Djurberg's "Towering Clay Flowers" is Pain, Anger, Fear and also pleasure. These emotions that are within her work confront us with how we could see the other perspective of living things and how the beautiful can be ugly. Pain, Anger and fear are the most obvious vibes you get from the artwork. She confronts us with these emotions to change our perspective of how the living natural things of the earth are non-living, also reminding us of death and that it is always on the other corner.

4) How does Djurberg play with the ideas of children's stories, and innocence in some of her work?

Djurbuerg show's the negative side of children stories and is showing the original reasons and meanings for the "children stories" and to why they were created. She focuses more on sending out a message of seeing beyond what the story is saying rather than listening to what is said in words and imagine it clearer for you to imagine what is behind the true words and think of the negative side of things. Leaving you question what is in-front of you rather than leave it as it is. When seeing her work she gives a different perspective of a child stories for more mature audience to understand what she is doing. 

5) There is a current fascination by some designers with turning the innocent and sweet into something disturbing. Why do you think this has come about?

I think that designers are trying out new styles and ways to bringing things out into the world and the art industry. In this time the innocent are not so much innocent , people now can see through things and people. Seeing the real thing behind the fake things, giving them the chance to be able to view things for what it will be in the future or what it actually is, for example a Flower is beautiful and has a nice scent of smells but for someone who has allergies from flowers may see it has harmful and this is another way of seeing the innocent things and making it seem disturbing. The world has alot of positive things but also negative, I think designers are just trying to bring that out more and make people realize with their own eyes what is really in-front of them. 

6) In your opinion, why do you think Djurberg's work is so interesting that it was chosen for the Venice Biennale?

In my opinion I think Djurberg's work was chosen for the Venice Biennale because she showed a new form, style of art movement and was a different style that intrigued people in that time and also was very different to what other artist were doing. Another reason why her work was interesting is the theme she chose to portray in her works and giving her audience a vibe and feeling whilst looking at her work and trying to understand what she is trying to bring out in her work.

7) Add some of your own personal comments on her work. 

In this work of hers I like the media she has used to bring out the birds and the colours, enlarging the size of birds and playing around with their colours and making them look more interesting and fantasy like. 

© Nathalie Djurberg The Parade, 2011 Installation view: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2011. Courtesy Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Photo: Gene Pittman

Bibliography:

http://www.yourdictionary.com/clay

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/animation.html

Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus(2007), Harper Collins Publishers , (P. 806, 57)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_Eden

Photos "Towering Clay Flowers" :

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nathalie-djurberg#!/photos/47242/1

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nathalie-djurberg#!/photos/47242/5

Photo "The Parade":

http://artnews.org/newmuseum/?exi=33236