the group show skyscraper takes its name from a novel written in the same year that the empire state building opened its doors. the novel is a romance tinged with feminist ambition and an homage to aspirational architecture – motifs that the artists here display a common regard for. chicks on speed, madelon vriesendorp and pelican avenue all share a fantastical approach to design that leads beyond utility towards the articulation of desire and absurdity. far from the earnest pronouncements of 1970s feminism, skyscraper is a joyous declaration of independence from conservatism, logic and category distinction; for the show pelican avenue has made a wall hanging from printed fabric that, while suggesting computer-generated imagery, seems to describe a plan for the fantastical realm of an enchanted forest or a lost city. 4 September - 11 October 2009; Kate McGarry Gallery / London

it is the reaction / counterpart to the previous pelican avenue project calyx. whereas calyx deals with the idea of
an artificial  organic world, intakt is about utopic and surreal architecture.
the video shows human as a negligible part of a powerful machine.

as well the collection as the video are part of the cycle fiction trilogy  and sequel to the previous pelican avenue project day-01: the very new beginning after the apocalypse, desolation, pureness, hope…
the flags showing video stills of day-01 could be interpreted as nostalgia, a perspective, but also history repeating,…  

the project focuses on families and their cultural traditions. in western urban centers people with a variety of ethnical and social backgrounds live close to each other. transformed by mass media and internet, individuality is replaced by a “mass-subject” and traditional structures of human relationships are inevitable changing. whether the family and its entity, as the center of human interactions can bear this development is questionable.
can family structures, determined by tradition and cultural heritage, maintain the function of shaping the character of individuals and sustain a differentiated society? what is the identity of modern families, the values and norms it is creating? does migration and increased social and cultural interaction undermine formerly fixed traditions or does it stimulate the awareness of the individual identity? is there a distinction between families formed by immigration and intercultural exchange on the one hand and a mere homogenous family concept?
for the Erben collection three singular family crests, each integrating the subjective perception of the family’s character were created. they are printed on t-shirts and embroidered on jeans shirts. finally each family is portrayed wearing its crest.
selling these items, the chosen families get kind of a star status and the clothes and posters work as “fan items”.
Erben was firstly presented at “le salon de chicha” during Paris fashion week in october 2005.

the objects of édition dame are restricted to a simple geometric form, the ellipse, which functions more like a decorative accessory, than a specific piece of clothing.
middle-aged Viennese women serve as models for the presentation since their everyday lives and biographies formed the inspiration for the series. they seem strong not only in an intellectual way but also in a sensual one. whe women are filmed in their own living room, surrounded by music of their choice, dressed in their own clothes with the ellipse as single outer element. like this the object serves as a frame for the personality of the women wearing it.
the édition dame videos are created in order to be presented as an audiovisual installation with several monitors spread over an empty space. turning the screens towards the same direction creates a movement and a composed floating image and underlines the differences between the environments.

derk thijs & pelican avenue
at Arti Capelli Gallery

16 april - 28 may 2011

opening
sunday 16 april 2011
15-18 h

In den Boerenmouw
5211 NG `s-Hertogenbosch

Info:
Mieke van Schaijk
miekevanschaijk@xs4all.nl

town-gown conflict

an exhibithion organized by Lucy McKenzie with:

Verena Dengler, Lucile Desamory, Caitlin Keogh, Pelican Avenue, Beca Lipscombe, Lucy McKenzie, Elizabeth Radcliffe

Museum Bärengasse Kunsthalle Zürich

13. june - 14. august 2011

Bärengasse 20 –22, CH – 8001 Zürich

MO closed

Tue / Wed / Fr  12 m. – 6 p.m. , Thur 12 m. – 8 p.m.

Sa / Sun 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The expression «town-gown conf lict» describes centres of conf lict in the

urban life of university cities, in which the campus and students in their

academic garb test the societal balance. The conf licts associated with

the gown-wearers encompass social differences, educational shortfalls,

mechanisms of social differentiation, segregation and the demonstration

of the superiority of the educated classes over the «productive» members

of society. Together with Verena Dengler, Lucile Desamory, Caitlin

Keogh, Beca Lipscombe, pelican avenue and Elizabeth Radcliffe, Scottish

artist Lucy McKenzie (born in Glasgow in 1977, lives and works in

Brussels) brings together artists and fashion designers for the exhibition

«Town-Gown Conf lict», whose drafts and finished works of both art and

so-called applied art explore topics relating to social formatting.

pelican avenue is involved in an exhibition and a uniform project at the museum for contemporary art Mu.Zee / Oostend, Belgium. Te kust en te keur is a group show at the museums façade together with artists Caitlin Keogh, Lucile Desamory, Beca Lipscombe and Lucy McKenzie.

The Scottish artist Lucy McKenzie has turned the modernist front of the museum into an exhibition, along with Lucile Desamory, Caitlin Keogh, Beca Lipscombe and pelican avenue.  Using drawings, flags, photos and display cases they have made the façade into a ‘canvas’ on which to conjure up the building’s original purpose - the exhibition and sale of all sorts of goods. This group project combines visual art with adverts, fashion, decorative motifs and window dressing. The cultural context of consumption, visual communication and stimulating desires, decorating and exhibiting all comes together in a total artwork.

31/03 - 30/09/2012  Mu.ZEE Romestraat 11 Oostende, Belgium

In this Te Kust en te Keur pelican avenue presents new uniforms for the museum attendants as well as an abundance of draped fabric covering every floor of the museum. Here, too, as she does in all her work, the designer Carolin Lerch calls into question accepted ideas about fashion and fashion designers in both the uniforms and the fabric installation. Her mistrust of consumption takes her work beyond the borders of the commercial and established. Subtle, extremely detailed and refined she tries to give her clothing and environment a critical, conceptual dimension as a means of taking an alternative look at dominant codes and the context in which her work is shown or worn.
The concept of a contemporary uniform is reconsidered, the obvious codes ousted, which results in a series of elaborate knitwear pieces.

This concentrated collection is available at the Mu.ZEE shop and in selected fashion stores worldwide.

Modular chrome tubes are the main elements for the scenery of the latest pelican avenue presentation during Paris fashion week. Dancers interacted with the polished set-up, a scenery that is inspired by an overequipped beach setting, health and wellness centres, the elements of a selfcontent bourgeoisie. The changing cabin made from string curtains, the useless fitness constructions and sun loungers were almost left unused. There were some slow efforts to exercise but finally the tension of boredom yields to enjoyment of the heat, the isolation and complacency.

The setting that was developped as pelican studio in collaboration with multimedia artist Michiel Helbig, has its origin in “Evil under the Sun” - a programme of events, curated by Lucy Mc Kenzie and Milovan Farronato for the Fiorucci Art Trust on Stromboli. pelican avenue designed a changing room for the black sandy beaches of the volcanic island.

For the Paris showroom, pelican studio designed 2 clothing racks in addition to the presentation setup. Working with the same modular chrome tube system, using it for its original function, but rethinking their generic appliances and forms. Both, the existing objects and furniture are for sale and can be ordered but the modular elements allow us as well to adapt the designs for different needs and dimensions.

Prices and more information on request.

Shady Sadie is the title of a collaboration with multimedia artist Michiel Helbig on an installation showing 5 figures displaying a series of capes and gloves. The minimal yet atypical constructions are built with modular tubes taken from a basic shop display system. On the one hand the material is using the original static construction and on the other hand it is generating the movement and personality of the figures. The dressing of each figure with nothing but a knitted cape and a pair of handmade leather gloves transforms them into actual creatures and aims for a maximum of character with a minimum of intervention.

The installation addresses the evolution of technology and media and the recent wave of automation in which the human countenance is disapearing or being artificially reconstructed. As a reaction to the over-presence of images and the current lack of content in opposision to the superiority of images, the project also consciously reduces the components of the visual language as well as the design itself to the essence. 
 

Shady Sadie is on view from 19.04 - 16.06.2015 at Gallery Mieke Van Schaijk in `s-Hertogenbosch