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Shattering Institutional Convention: Disobedient Bodies


You know it’s time to write about an exhibition when you’re still thinking about it two weeks after your visit. Disobedient Bodies, curated by fashion designer JW Anderson at the Hepworth Wakefield, has this effect.


As part of the 2nd year University of York Museology module, we were given a tour by the Assistant Curator Amy Stevenson, who told us about her experience of working on this unconventional exhibition, which brings together fashion and art.


Disobedient Bodies juxtaposes pieces of art and fashion which would not necessarily be placed together in a classical understanding of displays. Anderson combined well-known sculptures belonging to the Hepworth Wakefield, pieces from his personal collection, which includes sculpture and fashion, and loans from other museums. He sets all these disparate pieces into stimulating dialogues, tackling topics like gender and the function of fashion. Over 96 objects are included; some of them are not mentioned in the leaflet because Anderson worked very spontaneously and made new additions until the very last minute.




Installation view, left: Jean Arp, S’élevant; Christian Dior, Patchouli ensemble


Through these juxtapositions, the reciprocity between artworks and garments becomes visible. One of the first examples the visitor encounters is the juxtaposition between Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure and Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Cone Dress. Taking the reclining figure as a starting point of the exhibition, it can be rediscovered in several parts of the exhibition space. In this particular example, similarities and discrepancies appear, highlighting prominent and surprising characteristics through the proximity of the two. The natural materiality of Moore’s wooden and organic sculpture seems more tactile against Gaultier’s dress, which is arranged around abstract bodily forms underneath the fabric. Vice versa, the sculptural qualities of the dress become visible.


Jonathan Anderson made the deliberate decision not to include any labels that provide information about the interpretations or juxtapositions of the objects on display. The exhibition itself is accessible to anyone and no prior knowledge of the works of art is expected. In contrast to many other art exhibitions, Disobedient Bodies is mainly about an intuitive and emotional response to the works and rather than a focus on historical classification. It is essentially about deconstructing the classical. This is further reflected in the exhibition catalogue, which is not a direct reproduction of the exhibition but rather stages the works of art and fashion in new juxtapositions, enabling new readings and interpretations.




Installation view: your body can occupy the empty space of F. E. McWilliam’s Kneeling Figure when you are sitting on Gerrit Rietveld’s Zig Zag Chair.


Hence, the visitor is asked to make his own interpretations and to find his way around the exhibition. In collaboration with 6a architects, the exhibition space has been divided by translucent curtains produced in a local business. This division creates a new proximity between objects, which would stand loosely next to one other in David Chipperfield’s original architectural setting. The actual space is barely visible and it becomes difficult to maintain orientation. However, this disorientation challenges the visitor, drawing the attention back to the new spatial environment and its fabric. It enables new dialogues between the fabric and displayed works, as in the little room which displays Isamu Noguchi’s Akari lamp next to Issey Miyake’s Bamboo Pleats dress and Lantern dress.


📷Installation view, Here: Isamu Noguchi, Akari (Ceiling Model 31N) and Akari (Ceiling Model E); Issey Miyake, Bamboo Pleats dress and Lantern dress


The room at the heart of the exhibition is packed with long knitted jumpers hanging from the ceiling. You can touch the jumpers and feel the difference in weight, material and pattern. Essential to this idea was Barbara Hepworth’s desire for her sculptures to be touched; hardly feasible in a museum context. Anderson thus created a modern and temporary solution by including this tactile experience. The room looks different every day as children ecstatically run through leaving a bright chaos behind. People knot the arms together, climb into the jumpers and in general have an amazing time. Behind the jumpers are photographs of pupils from Wakefield wearing some of the fashion items displayed. The integration of local teens draws the attention back to the body - a sensitive topic for adolescents - and its relation to fashion.




Amy Stevenson showing Museology students the centrepiece of the exhibition.


In keeping with Anderson’s ethos, this review avoids over-interpretating the works, but rather encourages you to go and see them for yourself and make your own connections...


Disobedient Bodies in showing at the Hepworth Wakefield until the 18th June 2017.


Joëlle Warmbrunn

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