Tagged: gallery

launch event/promotion

Through being previously involved in events for Pop-Up Brighton, I was contacted regarding potential space hire for a zine launch event that I had enquired about. I wanted to keep any events local to Brighton and/or London as the majority of my contributors are based around there, as am I, and it keeps the personal, friendly feel of the zine. This is also why I wanted a small, independent and accessible venue to keep this approachable feel for Filler. Brighton has a great scene for pop-up, DIY arts and music events and so I wasn’t short of inspiration or venues/collaborators I could contact.

It was proposed that I could hold a week-long event, which I would base as an exhibition of prints from the zine project, as well as selling the first issue and promoting the project as an ongoing brand. I wanted to hold a ‘launch’ event on the first day of the space hire to encourage people to attend, much like other zines or independent magazines like Ladybeard and Polyester do.

This could involve: a gig featuring local bands, food tasting or a food-based installation, an interactive board or wall that guests can write/doodle/submit their ideas about Filler on, a zine or collage workshop.

North: Fashioning Identity @ Somerset House

I visited the North: Fashioning Identity exhibition at Somerset House to collect ideas around how I can research within fashion and culture and curate a creative outcome. The exhibition was curated by Lou Stoppard and Adam Murray, and Lou Stoppard is a constant source of inspiration to me in the fashion journalism and curation world. The exhibition was a vast, detailed display of how the fashion and art industry has taken inspiration from the culture and history of the north of England.

The exhibition space was curated into sections that unpick different areas of how the North is depicted and drawn up – looking first at documentary and fashion photography throughout the ages that has featured recognisable symbols and stereotypes (architecture and landscape, ‘the quintessential Northern woman’ and the Northern family and lifestyle).

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ACTIVISM: W E E K 1 initial research

I begun my research for this brief with Li Edelkoort’s trend forecasting, someone I constantly return to for inspiration and research in the area of future fashion and lifestyles. Edelkoort’s Anti-Fashion Manifesto highlights how fashion is becoming repetitive and no longer capturing the interests of consumers, especially of our generation that are now more concerned with altruism – working together and helping each other, not necessarily being at the top…and I therefore became set on an idea of perhaps helping the planet or environment, something not typically associated with fashion but a trend that is definitely appearing in our attitudes and lifestyles, particularly of my generation.

To begin gathering exciting visual/artistic research I visited exhibitions that interested me in London:

Basquiat BOOM FOR REAL at the Barbican allowed me to learn more about this artist, his values, techniques and processes. Basquiat’s often surreal messages formed in his work were created by the use of mixed media, often layering appropriated images or photocopies with paint, photography and text to create large pieces of work with many different thoughtful visual elements. I was particularly inspired by his work as it made me think about pushing boundaries with my image-making, taking risks and experimenting more, rather than sticking to safe practices that I know well already (which is something I often struggle with).

I also visited Rachel Whiteread’s exhibition at the Tate Britain – a sculpture artist whose work I’ve always loved for its aesthetic qualities but also the intrigue behind her processes – most of her pieces are so large you cannot imagine how she possibly constructs them. I especially like the colour palettes of her work; when seen collectively in an exhibition I could admire the pastel colours of her sculptures, in purples, blues, yellows and pinks – which helped me to think about placing pleasing colours and shapes together in my work, especially as I’ve started to think about creating more of a trend or look book rather than a typical magazine.

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