At 14:00 pm on July 2, 2017, “Fashion Art – Contemporary Dialogues between Fashion and Art” opened at the Zhuzhong Art Museum (new museum). The exhibition is hosted by the Zhuzhong Art Museum in cooperation with the International Alliance for Fashion Art and co-organized by the Fashion Art Center of CAFA and CAFA ART INFO. As the initial exhibition of the “Dialogue Exhibition” by the Zhuzhong Art Museum, the exhibition is jointly planned by the fashion designer and artist Lyu Yue, and contemporary artist Zhang Yanzi, to exhibit about 100 sets of works created by more than 60 artists from home and abroad.

The exhibition includes both the new features of fashion art and the new expansion of the language form as presented by the designers of fashion art and artists, and the latest creations of contemporary artists who have never come into contact with the clothing. The ready-made product of “silk robe” is taken as the medium for the imagination and re-creation which started from the wonderful spark produced by the collision between both to showcase the multifold forms of the fashion art in the context of contemporary art.

The honored guests attending the opening ceremony of the exhibition included the exhibition curators: Lyu Yue, Zhang Yanzi; representatives of participating artists: Chen Xi, Li Xiaofeng, Wang Chuan, Wu Jian’an, Yan Hongying, Yang Yang, Zhang Tingting; the well-known artist Wang Haiyan, Tao Yu, Director of the Department of Art History at Academy of Fine Arts, the Capital Normal University and the representatives of the institutions of art, media and collectors were present at the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was hosted by Sun Limin, Executive Director of the Zhuzhong Art Museum, who expressed her welcome and gratitude to all the honored guests that attended the exhibition, on behalf of the art museum and introduced the honored guests and the situation as relating to the exhibition.

Fashion designer and artist Prof. Lyu Yue from CAFA is one of the curators of this exhibition, and she first delivered a speech, to describe how the fashion art as “imported goods” was integrated into the creation of Chinese artists, and how it brought a new meaning and thinking to the collision between the fashion and artistic creation within the form of “dialogue”.

Prof. Chen Xi from the School of Architecture, CAFA, delivered a speech on behalf of the participating artists, to express her appreciation of the idea and medium of the exhibition from the perspective of the artistic creation, and thanked the Zhuzhong Art Museum and International Alliance for Fashion Art that gave artists more creative possibilities in a pluralistic and open atmosphere,who also helped the artists to promote the creation from an extraordinary perspective.

Later on, Lin Ben, founder of Zhuzhong Art Museum delivered a speech and introduced the Zhuzhong Art Museum that had always insisted on the essential values since the museum was founded, namely considering “holding the systematic exhibitions of ideas” as a long-term pursuit. Finally, Sun Limin, Executive Director of the Zhuzhong Art Museum concluded and expressed her gratitude to the team of the art museum. The opening ceremony finished and the honored guests took group photos to mark the occasion.

It features about one hundred groups of works at the scene, with an overall presentation of two creative forms: on the one hand, there's one section about the works of fashion art, taking the form of clothing, considering clothing as the soul which can break through the outer border of design, focusing on the spiritual core behind the clothing. The exhibition presents the status quo for fashion art to explore the updating of materials, breaking the fabric limitations, using both the hard and soft materials, and there are also some clothes made up of hard materials including ceramics and metals, but these are not wearable ... embodying that the artists do not focus on “whether it is wearable or not”, but pay more attention to design standpoints and the social and cultural values of design.

On the other hand, it invites the top Chinese and Western contemporary artists to use traditional Chinese silk robes as a “canvas” or elements, adding their own personal language and ideas to create something new. Rather than taking the costumes of specific dynasty as the blueprint, the artists made a creation using silk robes in a Chinese style, with reference to the ancient Chinese classic costumes, the image of the silk robe symbolizing cultural heritage and integration is detached after the refining and design. The artists who are from China, Italy, Mexico and India, etc., used robes as the model, the use of multifold forms of creation such as painting, installation, photography and so on, to create the works with strong personal ideas and extraordinary imagination, showing the multiple possibilities of traditional culture in a contemporary context.

The exhibition remains on view till July 20.

Text by Zhu Li, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Photo by Yang Yanyuan/CAFA ART INFO

About the exhibition

Opening: 14:00 July 2, 2017

Duration: July 2 – July 20, 2017

Hosts: Zhuzhong Art Museum, International Alliance for Fashion Art

Organizer: Zhuzhong Art Museum

Co-organizers: Fashion Art Center of CAFA, CAFA ART INFO

Acknowledgments: The College of Arts and Garment Engineering at the Changshu Institute of Technology, High Fashion Silk (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. Shenzhen Dexiliangti Fashion Co., Ltd., Beijing Zizaiyishang Culture Communication Co., Ltd.

Participating Artists: Bo Tao, Chen Qi, Chen Shuxia, Chen Xi, Deng Yuping, Francoise?Hoffman (France), Gao Qian, Gu Liming, Gu Lin, Jiang Jie, Jiang Shouxiang + Sun Shu, Jojo Soumo (India), Carmen Rion (Mexico), Lawrence Xu, Léa Pagès (France), Li Wei, Li Xiaofeng, Liu Jin’an, Liu Qinghe, Liu Xiangqun, Luo Min, Lyu Yue, Mauro Betti (Italy), Ma Ke, Ma Lu + Yang Yang, Hyun?Shin?Park (Korea), Qiang Yong, Qiu Zhijie, Sarah Siewet (Germany), Wang Chuan, Wang Dongling, Wang Huaxiang, Wang Huangsheng, Wang Keju, Wang Lei, Wang Xiao, Wang Yingsheng, Wang Yue, Wu Hua, Wu Jian’an, Wu Yi , Xu Lei, Yan Laichao, Yan Hongying, Yan Ping, Yang Hongwei, Yu Fan + Zou Shengwu, Zeng Fengfei, Zhan Wang, Zhang Jian, Zhang Qingxin + Liu Yang, Zhang Tingting, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhang Zhaoda, Zhang Yanzi, Zhu Zheqin