Diary photo entry

WARMENHOVEN & VENDERBOS | Diary 100310

Quote on  style by the French Poet, Novelist, Actor, Film Director and Painter Jean Cocteau  (1889-1963)

Zoom:  W&V Collection Spring/Summer 2010.

Style: Melted top: T 10-64-01,

Style: Folded seam skirt: S 10-63-10

WARMENHOVEN & VENDERBOS | Collection S/S  10

The monumental installations created by ,the New York based artist, Spencer Tunick are an inspiring and interesting dialogue between the naked human body and the public spaces they are placed in. But, at the same time, they are also a dialogue between the individual human and the larger group. By taking pictures of hundreds and sometimes thousands of naked bodies at specific locations he transforms human individuals to sculptural objects. By doing this he shows and opens a new point of view or perception of humans, nature and architecture.

In his early work he focussed more on individual nude bodies or small groups. This made these works more intimate compared to the massive installations for which he is now known. His work can be considered as a crossover between an installation and a performance.

Spencer Tunick:
“A body is a living entity. It represents life, freedom, sensuality, and it is a mechanism to carry out our thoughts. A body is always beautiful to me. It depends on the individual work and what I do with it and what kind of idea lies behind it — if age matters or not. But in my group works, the only difference is how far people can go if it rains, snows etc.”

On March 1st, 2010 he created his latest work. Tunick set up a series of installations titled “The Base” on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt and inside the Opera House. These installations were carried out as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and were Tunick’s first large-scale installation in Sydney, with over 5,200 participants.

In the below video by Ralph Goertz, Spencer Tunick was followed by the Institut für Kunstdokumentation und Szenografie during the creation of his installation at the Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf in 2006.

Photos top Spencer Tunick | Photo centre Reuters | Photo bottom Wood/Getty | Video by Ralph Goertz, Institut für Kunstdokumentation und Szenografie

Voici Paris: Haute Couture is a major exhibition which showcases the history of haute couture.

The exhibition recounts, on an inspiring way, the story of couture, beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century. This historical story is told by exclusive creations made by top designers, but also design drawings, accessories, fabric samples/swatches, embroideries, moving images and photographic material.

The Gemeentemuseum Den Haag owns one of the largest fashion collections in Europe, in which many of the well known couture houses are represented. It includes early pieces of couturiers like Worth, Poiret and Vionnet who where the forerunners of couturiers but also createurs (designers fashion) like we know them nowadays. The collection also contains famous or iconic items like for example the original pink Givenchy dress that Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Next to the historical showcase of haute couture the exhibition highlights contemporary couture. Renowned fashion houses, such as Dior, Chanel, Christian Lacroix and Jean Paul Gaultier, have loaned exclusive couture creations from their most recent collections.In a parallel to the international history of couture the exhibition features also the history of Dutch couture and shows the work of notable dutch couturiers like Frans Molenaar and Fong Leng but also work from the new generation of Dutch couturiers like Jan Taminiau.

The curator and art director of the exhibition is Maarten Spruyt, who was also responsible for previous fashion exhibitions for the Gemeentemuseum, including Fashion NL: the next generation (2006), Hague Court Fashions (2007) and The Ideal Man (2008).  This exhibition  is part of Holland Art Cities and it will run untill 6th June 2010.

 
Photo top by Marc de Groot | Gemeentemuseum The Hague