A Speculative History of Dutch Fashion Design @ HNI Rotterdam/ September 2015

A Speculative History of Dutch Fashion - Installation overview, September 2015.
Foto Johannes Schwartz/ HNI

One of the projects that kept me busy in August, was the re-creation of 13 toiles for the exhibition A Speculative History of Dutch Fashion in the Temporary Fashion Museum, just opened at Het Nieuwe Instituut/ HNI Rotterdam (to be seen till May next year).

These Simoulages, as I call them (since they are simulations of moulages; interpretations and not straight copies of originals), reflect on the design vocabulary from the so-called Arnhem School in the 1990s, now ArtEZ Fashion Design Arnhem.

A time when, especially at the fashion department of the Academy of Arts in Arnhem, the idea that fashion should present a new face every season is critically challenged. Designers start developing a reflective practice which investigates fashion itself and provide a commentary on the consumption of clothing and the fashion system. This translates into an extreme concentration on construction and a resistance to any form of decoration just for the sake of decoration.

From the catalog- "In the early nineties the School introduces a new legitimacy for the designer, namely through his cultural position. The autonomous designer moves away from the street towards the museum and, finally, the idea of 'fashion-as-communication' becomes subject of investigation."

 [photos below: Michiel Keuper]

The Temporary Fashion Museum / Article Spiegel.de, September 2016

HET NIEUWE INSTITUUT/Daniela Dostálková

The exhibition The Temporary Fashion Museum at Het Nieuwe Instituut / HNI Rotterdam, for which I created an installation, made it in the German press. 

From the article:
[English] "The unusual transformation of the whole museum follows the path of the product from the designer to the user and puts the user perspective into focus. The house celebrates the eternal creative renewal power of fashion and writes simultaneously - often casually, sometimes deliberately speculative, sometimes clearly evaluated - their history anew."

[German:] "Die ungewöhnliche Umwandlung des ganzen Museums verfolgt den Weg des Produktes vom Designer zum User und stellt dessen Perspektive in den Fokus. Das Haus zelebriert kreativ die ewige Erneuerungskraft der Mode und schreibt gleichzeitig - oft nebenbei, bisweilen bewusst spekulativ, bisweilen sauber evaluiert - deren Geschichte neu."

Click here to read the full article in Spiegel.de.

Simoulages / Work in process, August 2015

Making things - Back to the 1990s. Recreating dutch Fashion vocabulary for The Temporary Fashion Museum at HNI Rotterdam. #simoulages #HNI #workinprocess

Tanzsalon 3 on Dance & Visual Arts / Panel interview, June 2015

Tanzsalon No. 3 - Guests Günther Wilhelm, Michiel Keuper, Mariola Groener, Julian Weber, Sonja Augart (f.l.t.r.)

On June 18th I was invited to join a panel on the subject of Artistic Collaborations between Dance and Visual Arts organized by ZTB (Zeitgenössischer Tanz Berlin). The other guests were artist duo Wilhelm Groener (choreographers with a background in dance and visual art respectively) and, recent Berlin Art Prize winner Julian Weber (visual artist and choreographer), who started the evening with a participative performance. The panel was moderated by Sonja Augart and took place in Somos-Art Project Space.
I was interviewed about my visual work, and specifically about my collaborations with choreographers.

Interview for O.P.A. blog/ December 2014

In December 2014 I was interviewed by Peter Nijenhuis of  Ontwerp Platform Arnhem for the O.P.A.-blog on Keupr/van Bentm, the fashion label I ran with Francisco van Benthum till 2001. We talked about the fashion climate in the 1990s in Holland in general, on the abouts of the so-called Dutch Wave, the Fashion Institute Arnhem MA, presenting in Paris, being in Berlin and more. 

Click the link for the full article: http://www.o-p-a.nl/blog/michiel-keuper-berlijn

For those interested, beware, it's a longread (and sorry to non-Dutch readers; so far the interview is only in Dutch. A translation might be coming up).

Frieze d/e - Highlights of 2014

Holy! Two of the set designs I did in 2014 were mentioned in Astrid Kaminski's Highlights of 2014 on Frieze d/e Blog. Thank you for the opportunity Peter Pleyer and Jeremy Wade!

[English:]
"(...) In addition, Michiel Keuper, as already in my favorite participation piece, Jeremy Wade's Together Forever ( UA Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin), again made ​​a smart offer for the stage. This time, when he intervened with mottos of fashion, design and artifacts in the context of the pieces."

[German:]

"(...) Für mich die besten Ausnahmen und größten Gefühlsstücke des Jahres: Kat Válasturs fantastisch-dystopischer Rave Ah! Oh! – A Contemporary Ritual (zweite Serie aus The Marginal Sculptures of Newtopia, unterstützt vom Berliner Institut für Raumexperimente) und Peter Pleyers Visible Undercurrent.

Visible Undercurrent (UA Sophiensaele, Berlin) ist außerdem das Beste, was ich in diesem Jahr im Zusammenhang von Rekonstruktion und Reenactment gesehen habe: ein explizit ästhetischer und implizit politischer Rückblick auf Post-Postmodern Dance im Zeichen von AIDS und gender trouble der 1980er Jahre. Hier wird klar, wie aus Recherchematerial ein Stück wird. Schon allein das Kick-off-Gespräch der zwei gegensätzlichen Berliner Freie-Szene-Diven Sasha Waltz und Meg Stuart über ihr gemeinsames New Yorker WG-Jahr war ein historischer Moment. Darauf folgten sublime Reenactments ausgewählter 1980er-Jahre-Nummern mit einem sympathischen Quartett von Nachwuchs-Toptänzern. Außerdem hat Michiel Keuper, wie schon in meinem Lieblings-Partizipationsstück, Jeremy Wades Together Forever (UA Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin), wieder ein intelligentes Angebot für die Bühne gemacht. Diesmal, indem er mit Mottos aus Mode, Design und Artefakten in den Kontext der Stücke intervenierte."

Read the full article here: http://162.13.104.26/highlights-2014-astrid-kaminski/

Visible Undercurrent / Review, november 2014

Visible Undercurrent by Peter Pleyer, Sophiensaele Berlin, November 2014. The dancers, from left to right, Asaf Aharonson, Mor Demer, Marcio Canabarro and Paul Singh. Photo Michiel Keuper.

Last November I did costumes and set design for 'Visible Undercurrent', a dance performance by Peter Pleyer that premiered at Sophiensaele in Berlin. We got a great review in TAZ by Astrid Kaminski. The capture read: Form is Sensation. Click for the full read (in German) here. 

Visible Undercurrent, review by  Astrid Kaminski in TAZ, 17 November 2014.

Visible Undercurrent by Peter Pleyer, Sophiensaele Berlin, November 2014. The dancers, from left to right, Asaf Aharonson, Mor Demer, Marcio Canabarro and Paul Singh. Photo Michiel Keuper.

Ponderosa Trilogy / Art Direction & Photography, Fall 2014

Peter Pleyer, Ponderosa Trilogy - Photo/ Art Direction: Michiel Keuper 2014

This fall I did a art direction and photography series for promotion material for Peter Pleyer's piece Ponderosa Trilogy. Combining digital photography and an analog cut & paste aesthetic.

Peter Pleyer, Ponderosa Trilogy - Photo/ Art Direction: Michiel Keuper 2014

Peter Pleyer, Ponderosa Trilogy -
Photo/ Art Direction: Michiel Keuper 2014

Blanket Project / Ponderosa Stolzenhagen, summer 2014

This summer, out at Ponderosa Stolzenhagen, I worked on a Blanket Project. One evening at sunset I invited my friends Hana Lee Erdman and Jesse Hewit to perform with them. 

[click photos to enlarge]

Gouache on Paper / november 2013

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7x21cm

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7x21cm

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7x21cm

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7x21cm

Together Forever / february 2014

All photos: Michiel Keuper. Click photos for slide show.

Stage design for 'Together Forever', a performance by Jeremy Wade. From and with Liz Rosenfeld, Igor Koruga, Jared Gradinger, Jeremy Wade and Michiel Keuper. 

Premiered 28 february at Hebbel am Ufer / HAU 3, Berlin.

From the program: "Together forever is the promise of eternal love that we’ve heard a thousand times in kitschy pop songs. Yet in this title, it hints at the extent to which people truly rely on each other. In his new piece, dancer and choreographer Jeremy Wade and four further performers experiment with caring situations and forms of tender complicity, while probing the social and political implications of community, love and affection. 

 
What can we only do together – what can’t we do alone? What does being there for someone mean? And what might forms of togetherness look like in the future? After Jeremy Wade’s shows “Fountain” and “To The Mountain” at the HAU, which was centred on rituals alchemy and transformation of group dynamics, he returns with his new production, “Together forever”. This collaboration with dancers and choreographers Igor Koruga and Jared Gradinger, the performance artist and film-maker Liz Rosenfeld and the visual artist Michiel Keuper takes the hackneyed but ever-hopeful promise of eternal love back to its origins. 

  
But the focus of the show is not on relationships between couples: instead, it is an attempt to explore gentle forms of closeness beyond coupledom. (...) Real and imagined stories of togetherness and visions of intimate communities are narrated, explored and ritually considered here – concretely as a tangible creation of the here-and-now of the performance, but also as a model that has political and social implications: Do we – or don’t we – want to live in a world in which our fundamental needs are regarded not just as individual and personal but also as a social issue?" 

Gouache on Paper / november 2013

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm

Michiel Keuper - Untitled, 2013, gouache on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm

Divine Love Electric / january 2014

All photos: Michiel Keuper. Click photo for slideshow.

Art Direction and Design for 'DIVINE LOVE ELECTRIC' by Hana Lee Erdman in collaboration with Allison Lorenzen. Premiered 8 january 2014 at Tanztage in Sophiensaele Berlin.

From the program: "DIVINE LOVE ELECTRIC (DLE) is a New Spiritual Movement seeking to inspire universal inspiration and love and happiness. Founded in 2013 to encompass a way of life, DLE integrates devotional practices, ritual, spiritual and corporal teachings to inspire others to experience the fullness of their potential and truest selves. Endowed with an entourage of devotees, the Movement has attracted followers and contributors, including acclaimed designer Michiel Keuper, who, employing sacred mathematics, transformed The Kantine into a temporary Ashram. This week the co-founders perform an original soundtrack of luminous dream pop while directing internalized spiritual journeys and ritual communal actions."

Concept, Direction, Performance - Hana Lee Erdman, Allison Lorenzen / Design, Art Direction - Michiel Keuper / Dramaturgy - Ruairí Donovan / Temple Drummer, Spiritual Brother - Laurent Lavolé / Devotees - Louise Trueheart, Agnė Auželytė

Dark Material / august 2013

All photos: Michiel Keuper. Click photo for slideshow. 

Costumes for 'DARK MATERIAL' a collaboration by choreographer Jeremy Wade  and performer Maria F. Scaroni, visual artist Monika Gzrymala and indie avant-gardist Jamie Steward aka Xiu Xiu and Shayna Dunkelman. Commissioned by International Sommer Festival Kampnagel, Hamburg and Donau festival Krems. Premiere 8 august 2013.


From the press release: "(...) Together these specialists of different fields are working on experimental spatial drawings with various black materials. The work is inspired by Gzrymala's epic signature paper tape drawings that have been exhibited worldwide, producing diagrams of sensations, desires and affections. Wade and Scaroni enter a grotesque/queer/gothic pas de deux about human attachments and dependencies, proximity and distance, and the endurance, with which one turns towards the object of desire, even if it hurts."

By - Jeremy Wade, Jamie Steward and Monika Gzrymala / Performers - Jeremy Wade, Maria F. Scaroni / Sound - Jamie Steward, Shayna Dunkelman / Set Design - Monika Gzrymala / Dramaturgy - Eike Wittrock / Costume - Michiel Keuper

Maximum Service Day 4 / July 2013

Miguel Gutierrez and Jeremy Wade, Roskilde festival, july 2013. Photo: Keuper/Malmberg

[click photos for slide show]

In july, together with fellow artist Anne Sophie Malmberg, I worked on costumes for the performative installation 'Maximum Service' at the Roskilde Music Festival. During the course of the 4-day project we created a series of improvised and recycled outfits for the performers Jeremy Wade and Miguel Gutierrez.

See post below (click here) for more on the project 'Maximum Service at the Church of Beer', conceived by choreographer Jeremy Wade, environmental architects Studio Umschichten and the artistic team of MS Dockville Kunstcamp from Hamburg.

Maximum Service Day 3 / July 2013

Miguel Gutierrez and Jeremy Wade, Roskilde festival, july 2013. Photo: Keuper/Malmberg

[click photos for slide show]

In july, together with fellow artist Anne Sophie Malmberg, I worked on costumes for the performative installation 'Maximum Service' at the Roskilde Music Festival. During the course of the 4-day project we created a series of improvised and recycled outfits for the performers Jeremy Wade and Miguel Gutierrez.

See post below (click here) for more on the project 'Maximum Service at the Church of Beer', conceived by choreographer Jeremy Wade, environmental architects Studio Umschichten and the artistic team of MS Dockville Kunstcamp from Hamburg.

Maximum Service Day 2 / July 2013

Miguel Gutierrez and Jeremy Wade, Roskilde festival, july 2013. Photo: Keuper/Malmberg

[click photos for slide show]

In july, together with fellow artist Anne Sophie Malmberg, I worked on costumes for the performative installation 'Maximum Service' at the Roskilde Music Festival. During the course of the 4-day project we created a series of improvised and recycled outfits for the performers Jeremy Wade and Miguel Gutierrez.

See post below (click here) for more on the project 'Maximum Service at the Church of Beer', conceived by choreographer Jeremy Wade, environmental architects Studio Umschichten and the artistic team of MS Dockville Kunstcamp from Hamburg.

Maximum Service Day 1 / July 2013

Jeremy Wade and Miguel Gutierrez, Roskilde festival, july 2013. Photo: Keuper/Malmberg

[click photos for slide show]

In july, together with fellow artist Anne Sophie Malmberg, I worked on costumes for the performative installation 'Maximum Service' at the Roskilde Music Festival. During the course of the 4-day project we created a series of improvised and recycled outfits for the performers Jeremy Wade and Miguel Gutierrez.

See post below (click here) for more on the project 'Maximum Service at the Church of Beer', conceived by choreographer Jeremy Wade, environmental architects Studio Umschichten and the artistic team of MS Dockville Kunstcamp from Hamburg.

Maximum Service at the Church of Beer / July 2013

Photo: Tim Kaiser

In july I was involved in the project 'Maximum Service at the Church of Beer' during Roskilde Music Festival in Denmark. Choreographer Jeremy Wade invited me, together with artist Anne Sophie Malmberg to collaborate on costumes for the 4-days ongoing open air performance; 'Maximum Service'. He conceived this performative and participatory installation together with the architects of Studio Umschichten from Stuttgart and the artistic team of MS Dockville Kunstcamp from Hamburg, and he performed together with his friend and colleague Miguel Gutierrez from New York.

True Balls / march 2013

Sheena McGrandles - True Balls, march 2013. Photo: Thies Raetzke

[click photos for slide show]

Costumes for 'TRUE BALLS', a performance by Sheena McGrandles. Developed and premiered at K3 - Zentrum für Choreographie | Tanzplan Hamburg, march 2013. Performed by and co-created with Anna Nowicka.

From the program: "TRUE BALLS is a body carried by two pairs of double-jointed legs that finish at the pelvis, sometimes it's headless, sometimes it's a mess of parts that have the hallmarks of a tragedy. (...) True Balls is an artistic research project that combines both a performative and visual practice, attempting to queer the body, drain it from recognition and push it toward absurdity. (...)"