Hussein Chalayan

1. Chalayan’s works in clothing, like Afterwords (2000) and Burka (1996) , are often challenging to both the viewer and the wearer. What are your personal responses to these works? Are Afterwords and Burka fashion, or are they art? What is the difference?
Not all clothing is fashion, so what makes fashion fashion?

The ideas expressed behind Chalayans's is almost a mock and protest against the meaning of the burka. That being covering up a womens body to stop men from lusting over them. From what i understand of the culture in the middle east, women are badly mistreated and are submissive to men. Coming from a western society where equality has been fought for over the years its really disheartening to hear the stories. One example which has been in the recent news is how one man through acid on a women because she refused to marry him. His work 'Burka' is a bold reminder visually having naked women wear his garments, defying the point of a burka.

In Chalayans's work 'Afterwards' he pushes the boundary of making fashion into what we consider art. I think in fashion we aim to make garments in which are soley aesthetically appealing, following trends and what not. Where as for art, especially in a post-modern society, the aim is to make a statement and make the viewer think. So for me to think about Chalyans work as Art or Fashion i would say his works tend more towards Art, but there is no definite answer as they could apply to both categories. Espically in this work he has tried to merge architecture and fashion to represent the “concept of portable architecture, and was inspired by the necessity for people displaced by war and invasion to carry their homes when fleeing a country and becoming nomadic.” This concept was interesting to look into and made me thankful for the country and community i live in.

Fogg, M. (2007).Couture interiors living with fashion. Laurence King. London: UK


2. Chalayan has strong links to industry. Pieces like The Level Tunnel (2006) and Repose (2006) are made in collaboration with, and paid for by, commercial business; in these cases, a vodka company and a crystal manufacturer. How does this impact on the nature of Chalayan’s work? Does the meaning of art change when it is used to sell products? Is it still art?

The use of art to sell commercial products could be put into different scenarios. In music bands have recently been putting commercial products in there music videos and even in there lyrics for financial profit. For example Nokia mobile phones have been product placed in numerous music videos and Jack Daniels has been used in Kei$ha's songs. The meaning of the songs remain the same but include these companies, therefore i think the meaning doesn't change but the meaning however might be based around the product. So i think when an artist does this in Art or Music, the artist loses some of the conceptual ownership behind the work and has had to take on the companies presentation.

3. Chalayan’s film Absent Presence screened at the 2005 Venice Biennale. It features the process of caring for worn clothes, and retrieving and analysing the traces of the wearer, in the form of DNA. This work has been influenced by many different art movements; can you think of some, and in what ways they might have inspired Chalayan’s approach?

Hussein Chalayan's 'Absent Presence' is about "the neurosis and paranoia around the issue of terrorism, the consequential suspicion of foreign individuals." This was made at a time when Britain was undergoing new immigration policies which made it very hard for asylum seekers to enter Britain. With this statement being made it makes a post-modernistic approach while all the same taking from other movements. With the use of science and technology, various movements are touched upon. For example the enlightenment with the concept of science over reason. I did find it hard to research about Absent Presence because there was no copy online therefore i couldn't look upon more in-depth. Although i did find that a summary saying: "A video installation telling a story based on identity, geography, genetics, biology and anthropology. The film questions whether the extent to which identities can adapt to new environments."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0768786/

http://www.husseinchalayan.com/#/art_projects.absent_presence.overview/

4. Many of Chalayan’s pieces are physically designed and constructed by someone else; for example, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson made some works from Chalayan’s Echoform (1999) and Before Minus Now (2000) fashion ranges. In fashion design this is standard practice, but in art it remains unexpected. Work by artists such as Jackson Pollock hold their value in the fact that he personally made the painting. Contrastingly, Andy Warhol’s pop art was largely produced in a New York collective called The Factory, and many of his silk-screened works were produced by assistants. Contemporarily, Damien Hirst doesn’t personally build his vitrines or preserve the sharks himself. So when and why is it important that the artist personally made the piece?

Drawing paintings had been of a lone persons skill. For example The Mona Lisa is admired for its amazing life-likeness in the painting which gives credit to the painter Leonardo Da Vinci. This had been the case for art throughout history, where people would put value in paintings, or any form of art, by its display of skill. Its not until recent and becoming a post-modern society the idea behind the work is valued more then the display itself. However the aesthetics are still a major role in the work they are used to compliment the idea rather then be the focal point. Saying that why is it important the artist personally made the piece, i believe for it to be a true expression of the artist it must be conceptually thought up and completed by the artist alone.