Hello everyone. Before I begin my presentation, I’d like to thank you, professor Vida, for sharpening and polishing my rather dull sense of art throughout this class so far. As a rather rigid man of reason I’ve always thought that art is meant to project something abstract, something intangible; maybe an idea, a sensation, basically I felt that art is something detached from the mundane realms of practicality. So what I’m going to show you is my journey of how I came to realize that art is everywhere and can be everywhere.
I arrived at the museum of FIT. The Museum at FIT, founded in 1969 as the Design Laboratory, includes collections of clothing, textiles, and accessories. There are three galleries in the Museum. The lower level gallery is devoted to special exhibitions. The Fashion and Textile History Gallery on the main floor features a rotating selection of approximately 200 historically and artistically significant objects from the Museum’s permanent collection. Gallery FIT, also located on the main floor, is dedicated to student and faculty exhibitions.
Force of Nature explores the relationship between fashion and the natural world. The exhibition is organized into ten sections, with a wide variety of garments and accessories spanning the eighteenth century to the present, each focusing on a facet of fashion’s connection to nature. The exhibition reveals how nature has influenced fashion, and how fashion can emphasize society’s relationship with the natural world.
For example, in eighteenth century Europe, people’s fascination for nature was elevated by overseas expedition. This fascination can be seen on garments that featured depictions of exotic plants and animals. Another example is how elaborately feathered women’s hats show the plumage male birds use for sexual display in order to emphasize women’s beauty.
Here are some few of the remarkable works that were on displayed at the museum. Included are a mesmerizing “water” dress by Iris van Herpen that appears to splash away from the body. “The water-dress symbolises for me the incomprehensible magic of the body,” says van Herpen. “I often wonder if we will keep on wearing fabrics in future, or if dressing will become something non-material, something that is visible, but not tangible or touchable.” Here is an ensemble by Rick Owens that was inspired by the mighty, prehistoric mastodon, made by grey cotton faille, polished cotton, and tan plastic. The fashion journalist Alice Pfeiffer wrote that Rick Owens’s spring 2011 collection, accessorized with spiked combs, appeared “straight out of a dark fairy tale” and was “seemingly inspired by Snow White’s wicked stepmother.” An evening gown by Charles James, made of black velvet and silk satin bestows upon its wearer a sensual elegance by transforming her into a flower with a petal-like stole.
The natural world has influenced fashion in positive ways, but fashion’s impact on the environment has been largely detrimental. However, this relationship is changing, with many designers engaging in more sustainable practices. Science and technology play key roles in transforming this relationship, as evidenced by designer interest in biomimicry (employing design principles that imitate nature’s processes) and biomaterials that are grown using biological organisms. Force of Nature closes with an examination of this emerging dynamic, encouraging a vital discussion about future directions in fashion.
My next destination was the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY). It was founded by Henry Collins Brown, in 1923 to preserve and present the history of New York city, and its people.
The red brick with marble trim[4] museum was built in 1929–30[4] and was designed by Joseph H. Freedlander in the neo-Georgian style, with statues of Alexander Hamilton and DeWitt Clinton by sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman facing Central Park from niches in the facade.[5]
The museum is a private non-profit organization which receives government support as a member of New York City’s Cultural Institutions Group, commonly known as “CIG”s. Its other sources of income are endowments, admission fees, and contributions. The Museum currently hosts the first-ever museum presentation of New York City’s four-century history in its “New York At Its Core” permanent exhibition. Here are some of the pictures I took of the exhibition.
In a town renowned for its in-your-face persona, citizens have banded together on issues as diverse as civil rights, wages, sexual orientation, and religious freedom. Using artifacts, photographs, audio and visual presentations, as well as interactive components that seek to tell the story of activism in the five boroughs past and present, Activist New York presents the passions and conflicts that underlie the city’s history of agitation.
The exhibition displayed articles, posters and other physical proofs of the fight of New York people to change the world for a better future. Exhibits were displayed in different categories, ranging from political and civil rights, economic rights, immigration, religious freedom, environmental advocacy, and gender equality—themes that are emphasized throughout the historical sections of the Activist New York exhibition. There were also videos and articles demonstrating the works of organizations today, addressing issues from domestic violence to urban farming, and showing their different approaches ranging from providing social services and launching media awareness campaigns to practicing civil disobedience.
The exhibition also showed views the perspective of activists themselves through interviews. A team was established to make a list of current organizations operating across the five boroughs, re-organizing them under the categories of political and civil rights, economic rights, immigration, religious freedom, environmental advocacy, and gender equality—themes that are emphasized throughout the historical sections of the Activist New York exhibition. They then went on to interview six activists at organizations represented in each category on the list. There aim was to answer the question of “who are the activists of today?” Specifically, they asked questions such as: how and why did you become an activist? What is the work of your organization? What are the preferred tools for spreading your message? And how are you inspired by others past and present in New York City? Due to the length of my presentation I can’t show you the videos of these interviews, but for those who are interested you can find them on the website of The Museum of the City of New York. Overall the exhibition provided an extraordinary insight into the remarkable fight for a better world of ordinary New Yorkers that has and is still going on, and this is where my trip end.