Subtitled “Textiles in Contemporary Art”, this exhibition was on display at the small ‘gl. Holtegaard’ art museum in Holte, a town close to Copenhagen, from 5th April to 30th June 2013. The show was conceived in conjunction with the ‘Kunsten’ museum of Aalborg (Kong Christians Allé 50, DK-9000), where it will be presented once more from 13th September 2013 to 5th January 2014.
The exhibits were assembled by curators from each museum, Mads Damsbo and Stinna Toft. Neither of them has a textile CV, allowing them to employ every cliché encountered in the art circus: “Out of Fashion points to the link between art and clothing and to handicraft itself as a typically female occupation.” And Aalborg proudly claims that “KUNSTEN shows how clothes create art.” This is not a reference to art-to-wear; instead, the show presents artists “…who work with fabric, fashion and the body as living sculpture in their works.” This relates to people like Grayson Perry and Yinka Shonibare, or the Finnish artist Kaarina Kaikkonen . We did not view the actual exhibition, and we would ask readers who have had the pleasure to share their impressions with us (http://www.kunsten.dk).