An exhibition and discursive project by the /ecm master programme for exhibition theory and practice of the University of Applied Arts Vienna in the Angewandte Innovation Laboratory (AIL) and in public space.

The criticism of the fashion industry is manifold. It ranges from the standardisation of bodies and life forms, via the enhancement of uneven power relations, sexism and gender stereotypes, racism and class, to the production of dependency and exploitation. At the same time fashion is action and speech: We connect it to creativity and desire, joyful personal expression, as well as the possibility of resisitve creation.

The exhibition and discursive project is based on an engagement, which takes the critique seriously in order to instigate forms of action and agency. It pursues the questions: How is fashion produced?, How does fashion produce us? and What to do?

The 21 curators of the /ecm master programme show fashion as a nodal point of a complex netting by means of a selection of artistic, cultural, historical and discursive contributions. They unfold layers of resistance, discuss local practices and alternative organisational structures in three curatorial formats: an exhibition in AIL, interventions in public space as well as an extensive discursive programme. Starting with site-specific examinations within the Vienna Textilviertel (‘textile quarter’), the project involves co-operations with local manufacturers and collaborations with both the textiles and fashion class of the Vienna University of Applied Arts and it’s own collections. mehr