Condensation: Chen Chieh-jen at the Asia Society
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Still from Chen Chieh-jen's video Factory (2003)
The Asia Society organized the first solo show of the Taiwanese video artist Chen Chieh-jen. Among the harrowingly uncanny videos on show, the first, "Factory" (2003) stood out for me. It focused on garment workers returning to an abandoned factory where they had worked for the best part of their lives, prior to its sudden closing in the mid-'90s due to the decline of the Taiwanese manufacturing sector. Shot in Super 8mm and shown at a slow speed without a soundtrack, the video lyrically captures the female garment workers’ feeling of mourning and loss for the abandoned building (whose previous bustling rhythms are shown through interspersed historical footage). The work they once completed there is symbolized by a leftover men’s suit jacket, held up at the beginning of the video. This ordinary looking jacket stands as a statement to the complex personal and collective narratives which imbue even the most simple of garments. (For an extract of the video and exhibition info, click here)
Francesca
Fashion Projects #5 is devoted to fashion curation, examining the meteoritic rise in relevance of fashion exhibitions.
It features interviews with an eclectic assortment of leading practitioners from different corners of the world. The issue includes long Q&As with Harold Koda, the longtime, recently retired curator of the Met’s Costume Institute, as well as the Museum at FIT’s veteran leader Valerie Steele. It also features interviews with curators in Antwerp (the ModeMuseum’s Kaat Debo), Toronto (Royal Ontario Museum’s Alexandra Palmer) and Venice (Maria Luisa Frisa); academics studying the field (Hazel Clark, Annamari Vänskä, and Alistair O’Neill); and, giving an on-the-ground perspective, the Met’s head conservator, Sarah Scaturro. The issue’s cover stars Greer Lankton’s sculptural representation of legendary Vogue editor and Costume Institute doyenne Diana Vreeland, who continues to loom over the field years after her death.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Showmanship and History: An Interview with Harold Koda by Francesca Granata
Woman of Steele: An Interview with Valerie Steele by Lisa Santandrea
Exploring Fashion’s Openness: An Interview with Kaat Debo by Alex Esculapio
London, After a Fashion Curator: An Interview with Alistair O’Neill by Alexis Romano
Curation and Conservation: An Interview with Sarah Scaturro by Mae Colburn
Reflections on Fashion Curating
An Interview with Hazel Clark and Annamari Vänskä
Fashion in the Vast Museum: An Interview with Alexandra Palmer by Ingrid Mida
Restless Curating: An Interview with Maria Luisa Frisa by Marco Pecorari