At first blush, it's difficult to discern just what Hussein Chalayan, Florian Borkenhagen and Zaha Hadid have in common, never mind that they share enough aesthetic DNA to be put together in an exhibition.
But as Gabrielle Ammann gallery makes clear in its new show "Beyond Limit(ations)s", what the fashion designer, artist and architect share -- beyond their membership of a diaspora -- is a sense of movement, impermanence and exile.
That and an innate ability to challenge preconceived notions of what, say, a dress should look like (here, we're reminded forcibly of Chalayan's graduate show in which he buried his clothes in his back yard, dug them up and then sent them down the runway); how a pair of chairs can, in Borkenhagen's prodigious imagination, morph into a mobile confessional; or, in Hadid's case, why a building should even have walls in the first place.
Beyond Limit(ation)s is neither an ambitious production -- there are only about six pieces on show including video -- nor current; Hadid's sole entry, the amorphous 'Snowdrift' sculpture, was created in 2006. But as an unexpected perspective on the interconnection between fashion, art, design and architecture -- where the central theme is a thoughtful, philosophical and often beautiful deconstruction of the familiar -- this is a show worth making time in the diary for.
Florian Borkenhagen deals with the idea of a vagabonding existence. While Hussein Chalayan picks out his own experience of exile as a central theme, Borkenhagen creates objects implicating the notions of mobility and spirituality.
Through the exhibited works, Chalayan stages the voluntary or forced journeys of the individual in a poetical way. The artist's work brings a transitory place into being, where limits merge together.
Chalayan's sophisticated yet unpretentious dynamic is evocative of Zaha Hadid's architectural creations. Chalayan's video Aeroplane Dress shows a technological dress made out of metal and plastic for travelling, communicating aesthetically and thematically with the white Corian sculptures by Hadid.
The Absent Presence, Statue II Hussein Chalayan 2005material: composite polyester resin W 53 x H 65 x D 36 cm
Aeroplane Dress Hussein Chalayan 2001single screen installation black & white with sound duration: 2'18'' a film written and directed by Hussein Chalayan
Afterwords Hussein Chalayan 2000single screen installation color with sound duration: 1'33" a film written and directed by Hussein Chalayan edition: 5 + 2 AP
Seufzer Florian Borkenhagen 2010 material: wood, Kavallerietuch,metal W 60 x H 70 x D 65 cm
Snow Drift Zaha Hadid 2006 material: LG HI-MACS (Mineralwerkstoff) edition: 24 + 6 A.P.
The Absent Presence, Portrait II Hussein Chalayan 2005 material: C-Print W 100 x H 150 cm
SCV II Florian Borkenhagen 2009material: steel, Kavallerietuch, rubber W 140 x H 89 x D 65 cm
ADDRESS
Gabrielle Ammann gallery
Teutoburger Str.27
d-50678 Cologne