As part of MODUS, eight international artists were invited, in cooperation with the St. Gallen textile firms Forster Rohner and Jakob Schläpfer to design fabrics in St. Gallen and install in an exhibition. Fashion is a complex social phenomenon, which has its roots in very diverse individual and collective needs and is subject to constant change. To quote French novelist Marcel Proust: «Fashions change because they originate from a need for change.»
And indeed an important characteristic of fashion is its constant change. For centuries a very strict dress code was in place. The unambiguous and intelligible quality of dress language has disappeared in the post-modern society, and consequently the chance of individual self-design has increased. Today, the canonization of fashion is acute and omnipresent. As such it is only plausible that art should once again address the magic of this consumer good. The participating artists were chosen less because they have experience of textile design and more due to their interest in social phenomena.
The exhibition is part of the shows SCHNITTPUNKT | KUNST UND KLEID | ST. GALLEN at Kunstmuseum, Textilmuseum and Historisches Museum St. Gallen and is curated by Michelle Nicol and Gianni Jetzer.
A cooperation with Forster Rohner and Jakob Schlaepfer, St. Gallen. With generous support of Gallery Esther Schipper, Berlin and Dietschweiler Foundation.
An initiative of the Cultural Department of the Canton St. Gallen, supported by St. Galler Kantonalbank.