Cast & Mould

EXHIBITON PROPOSAL

–CAST & MOULD

–The work of

Vilsbøl de Arce in dialogue with the Royal Cast Collection

–Cecilie Stöger Nachman

– Cecilie Stöger Nachman – MA Fashion Curation – Fashion Curation: An Interrogation – 10.12.2010

‘Cast & Mould’–The work of Vilsbøl de Arce in dialogue with the Royal Cast Collection

[Today casts are made in moulds using silicone rubber that reaches into the deepest recesses of the original and is easy to peel off. In the old days the moulds were made from clay, bone glue or plaster and constructed around the originals in hundreds of individual pieces. They would be filled with plaster in order to produce cast repli-cas. In this context the Cast & Mould is a reference to the dialogue that the designs of Vilsbøl de Arce engage with the Royal Cast Collection. The positive shape of the casts symbolises the human body, and the negative mould the garment.]

A/W10 ‘Anatomy’

Vilsbøl de Arce


VENUE–The Royal Cast Collection (KAS)Vestindisk Pakhus Toldbodgade 401253 Copenhagen KDenmark

SIZE OF SPACE–The Royal Cast Collection is approximately 3186 m2 and set over three floors. The whole building of Vestindisk Pakhus is in total approx. 7998 m2.

EXHIBITION PLAN (WITH OBJECTS)–The objects will be on display throughout the three floors of the exhibition space. There will not be a particular route for the visitors to take, but it will be likely for the visitors to start on the ground level and work their way up in the building. The objects on display take their starting point in the different contextual groups the existing exhibition is di-vided into. The methodology is to draw parallels and see similarities between the existing space/exhibition and the universe of Vilsbøl de Arce; to start a dialogue between past and present. I will be exploring the field of fashion museology and study different types of display.

Exhibition section

Workshop: creative process, illustrations and videos


Exhibition section

Workshop: creative process, illustrations and videos

Ground floor–

First floor–

Second floor–

47,40 m.

7,60 m.

Pantheon & Olympia

Rest-rooms

Lift

Entrance

Casts

PergamonWorkshop

Lift

O�ce

The tombs

Open gallery

Egypt and Mesopotania

The Roman villas

Italien patrons

Middle ages

The Greek sacred

Lift

The Rainais-sance

Michelangelo

Tombs

Middle Ages

Portrait busts Roman empire


LOCATION–The Royal Cast Collection is located in the heart of Copenhagen with a view to the waterfront. Vestindisk Pakhus (= West Indian Warehouse) is built in 1797 and used to be a storehouse for the exotic goods, like coffee and tobacco, the Danish ships brought in from the West Indies.

The Royal Cast Collection was established in 1896 as part of the National Gallery of Denmark. Back then the casts were used by art students in drawing classes at the newly established Academy of Fine Arts. The primary ob-jective of the collection was to ensure the education and refinement of Danish citizens through classical art.

Today the collection holds more than 2,500 plaster casts of statues and reliefs from collections, museums, temples, churches and public places throughout the world. The collection testifies to beauty, drama, imaginative force and history of thought from as far back as 2500 BC and up until the year 1600. 4,000 years of sculpture is united under one roof and it would be impossible to establish a collection like that with original sculptures of bronze and marble.

The individual works of the collection are presented in close proximity to each other - in a manner, which is somewhat reminiscent of a depot. I have chosen the venue for its intimate atmosphere, as most sculpture galleries around the world are normally big and grandiose.It is certainly possible to detect a chronological history and to trace the artistic development and changes in style throughout history in the collection. But the main objec-tive of the presentation is to provide an impression of the physical, historical contexts of the sculptures - in Greek temples, in Roman villas, in public squares, and in collec-tions.

The imagery and styles of antiquity have influenced all subsequent European art and continues to play a major part, even though this may sometimes be difficult to see. Shapes and ideals shift and change through history - there have been revivals, and there have been breaks with tradition - but the significance and importance of history is ever prominent. It is ancient sculptures on display, but with a present significance.

I have chosen this venue for my exhibition as I see many similarities between the work of Vilsbøl de Arce and the casts on display in Vestindisk Pakhus. The original casts were made as an anatomical investigation of the human body. The sculptures reveal the beauty and perfection of the human form in a very naturalistic way. VdA’s designs are a similar investigation of the human anatomy, though in a more abstract way. It is striking how timeless the na-ked body is, how it never ‘goes out of fashion’. I think of the garments by Vilsbøl de Arce to be just as timeless and highly modern. Furthermore I think the Royal Cast Col-lection is a perfect venue for the more artistic approach I want my exhibition to take. My idea with this exhibition proposal is to promote Danish fashion, in an artistic way, in Denmark as well as throughout the world. The Royal Cast Collection holds classical art from around the globe. In many ways you can argue that the classical, white sculptures are the essence of what fine art used to be, and I wanted my venue to reflect this aspect. Another inter-esting aspect, and reason for my choice of venue, is the play with the ‘original and the copy’. Fine art is normally seen as equal to a limited addition, a valuable and unique piece. Since the industrialization clothing can be mass-produced and sold to low prices around the world. Vilsbøl de Arce create pieces that are more in the genre of haute couture than off-the-peg clothes and in my exhibition I will display showpieces and originals by the designers (note: except in the ‘Commercial’ section) in contrast to the plaster casts that will be the copies.

RELEVANCE–In the last couple of years there have been quite a lot of focus on Vilsbøl de Arce, especially outside of the bor-ders of Denmark as celebrities like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Natalie Portman, Peaches and Beth Ditto have been wearing their designs. Together with an increasing inter-est in Danish design throughout the world, I think the timing would be right for the exhibition. As mentioned earlier in this proposal, I want to effect the development within the Danish fashion scene; therefore the exhibition should be on now.


POTENTIAL SPONSOR–A potential sponsor would be the National Gallery of Denmark.

I want my exhibition to be a promotion of Danish fash-ion in an artistic way. Today clothing is one of the most important exports for Denmark and the country is an important player on the international fashion scene with e.g. Northern Europe’s greatest fashion week twice a year. There is a lot of focus on the more commercial side of the fashion industry, ‘the latest collection’, but with this exhibition I want to add a more artistic, theoretical and historical layer to the fashion world of Denmark today. The entrance will be free, but in addition to the exhibi-tion there will be produced a poster you can buy and thereby support the exhibition financially.

TIMEFRAME–The exhibition will be on for 6 months in the summer period from March to August. The visitor number at KAS is much higher in the summer than in the winter due to tourists visiting the museum. It’s location in Told-bodgade, near the Royal Palace of Amalienborg, makes it attractive for a large number of foreign visitors as well as Danes from other parts of the country visiting Copen-hagen. If you take a guided canal tour in the harbour of Copenhagen, you will be introduced to the Royal Cast Collection. An important goal for me, setting up this exhibition, is to promote Danish design in the world, so having a lot of tourists visiting the exhibition is essential.With my exhibition ending in August, it would be obvious to let it conjunct with Copenhagen Fashion Week (CFW) that will take place from the 3rd to the 7th of August in 2011. During fashion week a large number of fashion interested people will come to Copenhagen and have time to spend at the exhibition. To Vilsbøl de Arce the Royal Cast Collection could make the venue for their SS/12 show during CFW.

TARGET AUDIENCE–My target audience is fashion interested (mainly young) people, tourists and visitors going there to see the casts who will be ‘forced’ to see my parallel exhibition.


EXHIBITS AND THEIR PROVENANCE–All the exhibits will be pieces designed by the Danish de-sign duo Vilsbøl de Arce (VdA). It will be showpieces and original designs on loan from the designers themselves from the most recent collections:

SS/09: Catwalk of SortsAW/09: Woven AmourSS/10: Tangram OrganismAW/10: Anatomy

(I would also like to include pieces from the SS/11 coll. and some menswear from the AW/09 coll. in the exhibi-tion, but due to the limit of 12 garments, they wont figure in this proposal.)

ABOUT VdA –“Fashion is art revolving around human form” (Prisca Vilsbøl and Pia de Arce)

After graduating from the Danish Design School in 2002, Prisca Vilsbøl and Pia de Arce joined forces to create the label Vilsbøl de Arce and since then they have created avant-garde fashion with strong ties to art and performance. Using micro weaving techniques the pair has faced proportion with renewed vigour, casting of the shackles of trends and even gravity to create ballooning shapes in their collections. Conjuring associations to early armour with their bulging breastplates and exaggerated shoulders, Vilsbøl de Arce’s work is based on sturdy con-struction with an eye to flexibility and movement. Us-ing natural textiles and leathers, the designers braid and intertwine to create garments like a second skin, re-struc-turing the body’s silhouette by combining their signature proportions with tight, serpentine body shapes.

The duo often creates in collaboration with other art-ists and their talent shooting off in a myriad of creative expressions such as modern dance, industrial design, art installations and jewellery. It will be of great importance for me to express this richness in the exhibition. Artistic projects serve as the inspiration and framework for VdA collections, and the resulting pieces are intricate fashion constructions with unconventional silhouettes and sculptural characteristics. Although their approach is more artistic than fashion normally allows, it is important for VdA that their clothing will actually be worn. Each piece of the final collection, no matter how complex or artistic it was at the beginning of it’s creation, is worked on and adjusted until it fulfils the criteria of aesthetics, wear ability and comfort.

In their own words the philosophy behind the label is:

Essence is timeless. The work of Vilsbøl de Arce must forever be a search for fundamental experi ences more than a temporal aesthetics. We must defeat habit by originality. Inherent curiosity about ideas and naive intuition must remain a principal drive in our work. Yet we must explore and test the possibilities within the medium of fashion, always reaching towards other art forms, to strip our work down to a consistent expression. If we remain courageous, we will never disap point, neither ourselves, nor others.

(Vilsboldearce.com)


TEXT LABELS–I want the text labels to each garment to be very simply only telling the visitor the name/year of the collection and the material/fabric of the object as VdA uses special, often sustainable, materials.

LIGHTNING–I will keep the existing lightning as a way of integrating my exhibition in the present. The space is quite dim with only small windows in one side of the building. The exist-ing lightings are fluorescent tube lights, which sounds quite tacky, but actually works very well with the depot-like atmosphere of the space. The garments on display are all recently new and will not be damaged by the lighting. I will not take any other safety concerns, as I want people to get close to the objects on display, just like it is the case with the casts. Though, it will be stated in the leaflet not to touch the garments.

MEANS OF DISPLAY–A/V:Besides the garments there will be shown videos (with music) of VdA fashion shows. Their shows are always a big experience, as they are created in collaboration with well-known architects and musicians. Furthermore I will show videos to illustrate the creative richness of the design process. I will have these specially made with interviews, elements from their studio and sources of inspiration.

Leaflet:A small leaflet will be provided at the entrance for free. The leaflet will provide the visitor with an introduction and pictures of the garments worn by celebrities and models. The pictures should illustrate the versatility of the designs when styled in different ways.

Poster:A special edition poster in connection with the exhibition will be sold in the reception at the Royal Cast Collection.

GRAPHIC IDENTITY–The fact that I am doing my exhibition as a parallel to an already existing exhibition makes it important to think about how the two exhibitions get along. I want to make a clear graphic identity for the new exhibi-tion, using the same colour on the leaflet, poster and sig-nage (red vinyl signage on the floor at each installation) throughout the exhibition so that it will look like one coherent exhibition. Though, it is important to me not to disturb the existing display unnecessarily. Therefore the objects I have chosen are all black, white or natural in co-lour, I will not change the existing lightning, move casts on display and the videos will only be played in compart-ment rooms.


EXPLANATORY TEXT PANEL FOR EXHIBITION –(Will be printed in leaflet)

To upcoming Danish design duo, Vilsbøl de Arce, fashion is art revolving around human form. Their unique pieces are intricate fashion constructions with unconventional silhouettes and sculptural characteristics. VdA investi-gates the human anatomy and creates garments that are like a second skin, re-structuring the conventional body shape.

Now, for the first time, their unique pieces will be on dis-play in Copenhagen where it all began back in 2002. In a dialogue with the Royal Cast Collection this exhibition will be a taste of the treasures and talents Danish design anno 2010 offers, set in a context of world art dating as far back as 2500 BC.

The 12 objects on display are divided into five sections, each of them taking their starting point in the histori-cal and contextual background of the existing exhibition in the particular space. The objects in each section are displayed in different ways supporting the thematically content. The five sections are ‘The Human Anatomy’, ‘3D’, ‘Commercialism’, ‘Modernity’ and ‘The Soul’.

Cast & Mould is an eventful journey where fashion meets art, copy meets original, naturalism meets abstraction, static meets dynamic and present meets past…

(Word count: 188)


THE HUMAN ANATOMY–This section explores the human anatomy.The two dresses will be displayed on plain, white shop mannequins without a head. The stands will be of wood, similar to the existing ones.

Trapezius dress AW/10 (‘Anatomy’)

Showpiece AW/10 (‘Anatomy’)


Ground floor–

Visualisation–

Display–

47,40 m.

7,60 m.

Pantheon & Olympia

Rest-rooms

Lift

Entrance

Casts

PergamonWorkshop


3D–This section plays with the normally flat ‘picture on the wall’ being turned into 3-dimensional bodys. The four key pieces by VdA will be displayed on the wall in between the existing reliefs.

Body, SS/09 (‘Catwalk of Sorts’)

Noki body, SS/10 (‘Tangram Organism’)

Sassie padded body, AW/09 (‘Wowen Amour’)

Tora body, AW/10 (‘Anatomy’)


First floor–

Lift

O�ce

The tombs

Open gallery


The Roman villas

Italien patrons

Middle ages

The Greek sacred

Visualisation–

Display–


COMMERCIALISM–This section illustrates the more commercial and wear-able side of VdA. I have, inspired by ‘the little black dress’, chosen three garments from the same collection that you can easily wear for everyday use. In this section the garments will be replicas of the originals and dis-played on simple hangers on shop racks. There will be shown videos of VdA fashion shows on all four walls

Kimono dress, AW/09 (‘Wowen Amour’)

Uma dress, AW/09 (‘Wowen Amour’)

Quafa dress, AW/09 (‘Wowen Amour’)


First floor–

Lift

O�ce

The tombs

Open gallery


The Roman villas

Italien patrons

Middle ages

The Greek sacred

Visualisation–

Display–


MODERNITY–The headpiece on display in this section is inspired by outer space and is very futuristic. Lady Gaga have been interviewed wearing it. The object will be displayed di-rectly on one of the existing plaster cast heads.

Headpiece, SS/09 (‘Catwalk of Sorts’)


Second floor–

Lift

The Rainais-sance

Michelangelo

Tombs

Middle Ages


Visualisation–

Display–


THE SOUL–In this section the more spiritual side of VdA is illustrat-ed. The white garments, ‘the moulds’, will be displayed in clear threads hanging from the ceilings above the tombs.

Orchid vest, AW/10 (‘Anatomy’)

Muse jacket, AW/10 (‘Anatomy’)


Second floor–

Lift

The Rainais-sance

Michelangelo

Tombs

Middle Ages


Visualisation–

Display–


BIBLIOGRAPHY –

Books:

Clark, Judith (2010) The Concise History of Dress. Lon-don: Artangel

Clark, Judith (2004) Spectres – When Fashion Turns Back. London: V&A Publications

Pearce, S. M. (1994) Interpreting Objects and Collec-tions. London: Routledge

Articles:

De la Haye, A. (2003) Where’s the Dummy now? Fashion in the Gallery. Tate International Arts and Culture No. 3: 12-16

Websites:

www.copenhagenfashionweek.com

www.smk.dk

www.vilsboldearce.com

Cast & Mould

Documents

Transcript of Cast & Mould