Event: Modern art museum Arnhem gives tribute to Vlisco

I guess the Modern art museum Arnhem in The Netherlands is going to rep Africa. From 29 January through 6 May, 2012, the Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem will present Six Yards Guaranteed Dutch Design. Its an exhibition about how Vlisco’s Dutch textiles became a part of various West African cultures and found their way into international fashion, the visual arts, and photography. As early as 1846, the Vlisco company, based in Helmond, served the West and Central African market with Dutch Wax textiles.

The exhibition Six Yards is a tribute to Vlisco textiles: over a hundred years old, born in Indonesia, designed in the Netherlands, loved in Africa, and desired in the West. These colourful fabrics make their way to fashion shows in Paris, the markets in Ghana, and galleries in London and New York. The exhibition Six Yards focuses on all the relevant angles, from their presence and meaning in the work of artist Yinka Shonibare, to the stories in the oral tradition that have come from the fabrics.

Dutch Wax fabrics belong in all respects to the Dutch heritage, they are the product of our commercialism. In the mid-nineteenth century, Vlisco’s factories produced batik fabrics for the Dutch East Indies, using wax (hence the name Dutch Wax) in the process. African soldiers stationed in Indonesia brought the colourful fabrics home, where they were very popular. Since then, the textiles have been inextricably associated with Africa and have become a familiar component of West African culture.

The collection serves as inspiration for African women and follows the rapid developments on the continent. Vlisco has also established itself in the world of international fashion; top designers like John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier and Junya Watanabe have worked with Vlisco patterns or fragments and translated them into silk, jersey and jeans.

The exhibition has been put together by the Suze May Sho artists’ collective, whose work focuses on the areas where art, design, and fashion meet. Through these disciplines, the collective makes a voyage of discovery through the world of Vlisco fabrics, the designs, and their often surprising significance.

A substantial exhibition journal will accompany the show, in addition to the richly illustrated book Vlisco Fabrics (in English), with text by Anja Aronowsky Cronberg, published by ArtEZ Press, and a publication about Vlisco edited by José Teunissen, part of a series of monographs about Dutch fashion designers, published by d’Jonge Hond, Modelectoraat ArtEZ and ArtEZ Press.

For the duration of the exhibition the museum shop will carry Vlisco textiles that can be purchased in lengths of six yards.

Adres: Utrechtseweg 87 6812 AA Arnhem The Netherlands

Are you gonna pay a visit?