February 2, 2014

winterSALON/ 2014: Introducing participant: Frans-Pieter Vonck


WinterSALON/2014 introducing first time participant at SALON/: Frans-Pieter Vonck (showing at the Posthoorn kerk in collaboration with Conny Groenewegen)
Waxed capes and robots installation
on exhibit at the Posthoornkerk
Vonck and Groenewegen share a deep fascination for what they define as
'Tactile Techne', technology that generates motoric cultural memory and creative physical agency.
They regard teaching as a means of transfering cultural history. The effect of this transfer manifest itself in creative and playfull changes in the students present physical life.
Both see fashion as an act of creation and interpretation, not as an act of consumption and canonization.

Robots by Frans-Pieter Vonck
About: Frans-Pieter Vonck (Bagdad 1967) is fascinated by what he regards,"the
absurd consequences of using modern technology in the transfer of cultural
knowledge".
Vonck studied tropical agricultural engineering in Wageningen. He graduates on the design of a neural network for the Amsterdam Sewage Department. After working a few years as a water systems engineer he
starts teaching science at highschools. In Vonck's lessons students are taken on an exploration of the bizar
consequences of new technology in everyday life. Often new instruments need to be created to reveal hidden meaning of modern science. For instance, students used the blurred windowed glasses (part of the WAXED CAPES
AND ROBOTS installation) in order to observe the near future of the so called
'augmented' reality. In 2013 Vonck wins a fashion price at the Arnhem Mode Biennale (the
"Fetish"- editon, curated by Lidewij Edelkoort). His contribution was an ominous apron made of car mats, accompanied with self composed music. "Never was an apron so rebelious", comments the jury 

Waxed capes by Conny Groenewegen
About: Conny Groenewegen (1973) explores the evolution of ideas at the interface of fashion, technology and design. She situates herself where inventions in production technology define themselves into new artifacts that change how we perceive ourselves. 
While being fascinated by the technical and societal implications of the industralisation of fashion design, her work is always a reflection of the human measure. The tension between mechanisation and handwork, industry and artisan, is clearly observable in her designs. She defines her style as “soft tech”, technology that has been touched by human hands and gives us a hopefull vision for the symbiosis between human and machine and creating a more intimate relationship between technology and the body. Collections, selection:
-“Rupture”, lasercut contours, with wild erratic slids,  by a frantic beam of light. Giving insight in the consequences of optimizing mechanised pattern cutting.
-“Alchemy”, transformations of eartlhy materials like wool and silk into new elements of style and devotion.
-“Primary Explorers”, hiding its secrets in the depths of wrinkles, crumples and crinkles offering a sensual exploration for the touch and the skin. Fabrics processed from thin layers of time that make the models look like elemental travellers. Opening show at the fashion week Tokyo, spring 2013.
-Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award winner —2011
“The jury was instantly and unanimously convinced by the artistic integrity of this designer who provides the fashion industry with much needed oxygen”
Conny Groenewegen teaches ”design and fashion” at several (inter)national fashion and design institutes. She is mastering both technical and practical aspects of fashion design which she combines with an intuitive curiousity in the ideas of her students.
Before establishing her brand in 2007 Conny Groenewegen has worked with international designers and brands such as Alexander van Slobbe, Yoshiki Hishinuma and Droog Design. Conny Groenewegen participated and went to China with SALON/BJ during Bejing Designweek in 2013, she worked on her RAW Capes in the Dashilar Area in Beijing


Waxed capes and robots installation on exhibit at the Posthoornkerk


1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2/18/2014

    Are those spectacles at top what Google Glass is REALLY doing to its users?

    ReplyDelete

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