the hanging garden collection belongs to the hanging garden party - a fashion performance by alex murray-leslie from chicks on speed, kroot juurak and pelican avenue; it is series of scenes taking place in parallel contexts around the world, each location presents a new scene and dialogue between performance art action, fashion, choreography and sound, blurring the lines between these creative fields, with the outcome of a new language of expression. the scenes present audio visual jam sessions, using the tools of choreography and fashion together with technological body instruments and old craft techniques. fashion returning to phantasy and free spirit; a pure expression of creativity; individuals interpreting the set up of a garden party, performing in an interwoven textile architecture detached/free from esthetic expectations, commercial reasoning and categorical thinking. a textile architecture is generating an architecture of sounds.
the first scene of the performance took place on a small street in paris. the installation of fabric was cut, torn apart, triggered noises, a jungle of sounds and fabric ended building a public space for a party; tuned and arranged live by musician merche blasco

scene 2 of the hanging garden party - a fashion performance by alex murray-leslie from chicks on speed, kroot juurak and pelican avenue; it is series of scenes taking place in parallel contexts around the world, each location presents a new scene and dialogue between performance art action, fashion, choreography and sound, blurring the lines between these creative fields, with the outcome of a new language of expression. the scenes present audio visual jam sessions, using the tools of choreography and fashion together with technological body instruments and old craft techniques. fashion returning to phantasy and free spirit; a pure expression of creativity; individuals interpreting the set up of a garden party, performing in an interwoven textile architecture detached/free from esthetic expectations, commercial reasoning and categorical thinking. a textile architecture is generating an architecture of sounds.
the second scene was staged in a serene gallery space during tokyo fashion week. in this scene clothes were interwoven in the abstract architecture of fabric. dressing, undressing and playing with them triggered a minimal electronic soundscape under control of sound artist benjamin tomasi. a body wired with sensors linked to letters was used as a human instrument to spread the word.

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

we regard hysteria as the only possible gate
a fashion performance by krõõt juurak and pelican avenue

presented during paris fashion week in march 2010 with a live soundscape by raphael vandeputte

merci to sweatshop paris

kindly supported by
unit- f büro für mode

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.