New York, September 9th,
2013
dear ,
I would like to
introduce myself, my name is Pascale Gatzen, I am a Dutch designer and artist,
living and working in New York. I am very grateful and excited to be invited by
Mizuki Takahashi to participate in the “Questioning the Concept of Fashion” exhibition at the
Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito from February 22nd until May
11th, 2014.
Mizuki Takahashi asked
me to re-imagine the uniform that you wear when you work in the museum during
the exhibition. In my practice as an artist and a designer, I am interested in facilitating
collaborations between people to learn from each other and to imagine new
possibilities together. I have a lot of respect for the knowledge that each of
us brings as a result of our life and every day experiences.
I would like to imagine
and create a new uniform together with you. During the two weeks before the
opening of the “Expanded Fashion” exhibition I will facilitate a workshop in
which we will each make our own uniform based on the conversations we will have
about the function and meaning of uniforms and garments in general. We will
explore what it means to wear a uniform, how it supports the work we do and how
it inhibits us, we will imagine and create our ideal uniform. We will make
decisions as a group about the process and the outcome of the workshop.
You don’t need to
have any sewing or pattern making skills to participate, I will teach a special
patternmaking method that is easy to learn, and we can teach each other the sewing
skills that we do have. The workshop will be a lot about curiosity,
spontaneity, creativity and skill sharing, learning from and teaching each
other.
I would like to
invite you to participate.
We will share the
outcome of our process and work together as an installation in the exhibition. We
will include drawings, hand written texts, images etc..
It will be an
intensive time commitment to participate in the workshop, but I expect it to be
very rewarding and joyful. We will share and learn a lot, both practical skills
and conversations about our motivations for the garments that we wear. We will
meet 5 days a week, 2 hours each day. Next to the 2 hours together, you will
work for 2 to 3 hours at home. Together we will come up with a way to involve
the other guards that will work in the exhibition as well. After the workshop
with me, you will continue to work on your uniforms and sew together one
evening a week, inviting other guards to participate as well. This process will
be documented and added to the installation in the exhibition.
After the “Expanded
Fashion” exhibition closes in Mito, it will travel to Marugame
Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art (MIMOCA) The exhibition will run
there from June 14th until September 23rd 2014. One or
two guards from the MIMOCA will join the workshop in Mito.
Thank you very much
for taking the time to read my letter to you and I very much look forward to
meeting you in Mito in February.
If you would like to
participate in the workshop, I would love to receive a letter from you introducing
yourself and explaining what makes it exciting for you to participate. I also
would like you to include in the letter that you agree to the time commitment
involved and that you understand that your work and images of you will be part
of the installation in the exhibition. If you have any questions please relay them
to Mizuki Takahashi and she will forward them to me, I am happy to explain and
answer any concerns you have.
With much respect,
Pascale Gatzen