Getting Dressed

About

The garments and structures in the exhibition are the culmination of three collaborative making sessions held at V.O on 25, 26 and 27 November. Through these workshops, the artists and participants looked to unpack and address questions around the notion of dressing, in bodily and architectural contexts. Adopting a hands-on approach, participants came together to create new garments out of old ones, build support structures out of found materials and embellish surfaces with collaged images.

The garments and structures have been styled in the exhibition by fashion stylist, Hamish Wirgman. 

A huge thank you to all those who participated, as well as those who donated materials and loaned equipment for the project. 

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Hamish Wirgman (b. 1992, London) is a stylist and costume maker in South London. He uses clothes and image-making to explore visual sociology, most likely taking from now to the last 10 years or before christ.

Jack O’Brien (b. 1993) lives and works in London. Past solo and group exhibitions include Ginny on Frederick, London; clearview.ltd, London; V.O Curations, London; Becky’s, London; White Cubicle Gallery, London; KEM, Warsaw and Peres Projects Berlin. His work has been written about in publications such as FRIEZE and The Arts Newspaper.

Sam Cottington (b.1993) Lives and works in London. Recent group exhibitions include Haus Wien, Vienna (2021); Deadhead Perfora, Yaby, Madrid (2020); and Artists self publish fair, ICA, London (2020). He presented his experimental documentary film ‘Do what you can’t’ to Birmingham University’s Masculinity, Sexuality and Popular Culture conference (2019), and he is the recipient of a London Performance Studios Space Bursary, where he began work on his play ‘The Fairness Doctrine’ (2021). His first novella ‘People Person’ is forthcoming from JOAN press.

Tenant of Culture (b. 1990, Netherlands)  is the name of the practice of Hendrickje Schimmel. She has completed a BA in Fashion Design at ArtEZ School of the Arts, Arnhem, NL followed by an MA in Textiles at the Royal College of Art, London, UK. By disassembling and rebuilding manufactured garments, Tenant of Culture examines the ways in which ideological frameworks materialise in methods of production, circulation and marketing of apparel. The materials used in her textile assemblages are sourced from various stages of the garment production cycle as well as secondary use platforms and refuse. She recognises commodities not only as the result of a standardised production process, but also as the social relations that arise in the process of their usage and wastage. Working across mediums such as garment, sculpture, workshop and installation her work suggest implicit potential for both destruction as well as transformation.

Valerie Kong (b.1994, Hong Kong) lives and works in London. Recent group exhibitions and projects include Octopus, Ginny on Frederick, London (2020); No Measurements Required, Nicoletti Contemporary, London (2019), Fashion Café, Kantine, Brussels (2019); Group Show, GAO Gallery, London (2018). From 2018-2019 she ran The Exquisite Corpse Project, the project grafts 41 participants together to create a collection of garments. A runway show was held in 2019 to showcase the collection, since then the collection of garments have been featured in various publications and exhibitions. 

Participants

Afroditi Gkoulioumi
Alondra Castellanos Arreola
Antonia Marsh
Bryoie Perkins
David Vargas
Eglantine Laprie-Sentenac
Elsa Collinson
Emma Clarke
Eve Stotesbury
Gerry Daniels
Hannah Smith
Kate Wong
Lana Ivanyukhina
Laura Vargas
Leon Stevenson
Maiko Lawton
Max Lewis
Munesu Mukombe
Nicola Arthen
Nima Shafiani
Nnamdi Obiekwe
Pen Riley
Phillip Reeves
Riccardo Pillon
Zina Vieille