What do you do with old, broken or no longer fitting items of clothing? And what relationship do the people of Oldenburg have to their trousers, jumpers and skirts? The feelKLEID project explores these questions.
If you enter Oldenburg's Schlosshöfe through the entrance between Galeria Kaufhof and Bremer Landesbank, you are currently presented with a surprising sight: directly behind the entrance door on the right-hand side, the glass front of a shop reveals a shell of a building: the concrete walls are only fleetingly painted white, the ceiling is uncovered, cables and pipework are visible and there is only lighting from a few floor lamps.
Eight students on the Bachelor of Material Culture programme moved into the then empty shop in October together with Petra Eller, research assistant at the Institute of Material Culture. Here, in the "Temple of Consumption", they will spend the next two semesters exploring the relationship between clothing and wearers and sustainable clothing consumption.
Co-operation project with the art school
feelKLEID is the name of this project, in which the Institute is cooperating with the Oldenburg Art School and designer Anastasia Lotikova, a scholarship holder at the art school. On a total of five dates, Oldenburg residents are invited to bring old items of clothing to the studio, have them photographed and tell us about the piece in question: When and where was it bought? What memories are associated with it? What do people generally look for when buying clothes?
In order to be able to systematically analyse this information later and thus gain an insight into the consumer behaviour of Oldenburg residents, the students record the interviews and fill out questionnaires. The garments themselves are also included in the research: The students will engage with them scientifically and artistically as the project progresses.
The project is funded by generationKunst, a model programme of the Landesverband der Kunstschulen Niedersachsen e.V. with the aim of making art tangible in everyday life. The shop is provided free of charge by Bremer Landesbank, which owns the space.
Research on the object
By now, the students have almost made themselves at home in their studio: sewing machines, spools of thread, scissors and fabrics of all kinds stand and lie on a long table; in between are bags of jelly babies, pencil cases and smartphones. Upcycling is on the programme today - turning old things into new ones. In a performance at the beginning of the project, the students cut up items of clothing - "What they didn't know was that they would have to sew the pieces back together again today," explains Eller. In this way, the students learn to work with the material themselves. They also gradually familiarise themselves with the topics surrounding sustainable clothing consumption - and benefit from their different prior knowledge.
The project participants concentrate on sewing their trousers and shirts - surprisingly, almost all of them by hand. Only Maren Limpert has grabbed a sewing machine: "I get nicer seams that way, for example a zigzag stitch," she explains. Lucia Stolle, who is sitting next to her, sews her jeans back together by hand - with bright red thread and large stitches: "I want it to stand out". Whether it's colourful fabric patches on blue dungarees or large cross-stitches made of light, thick wool on a dark cardigan - everyone finds their own creative way to patch up their garment. "It's not about making perfect seams. The students should simply try out what they can do with the pieces and perhaps develop a new design," says Eller.
The specific research and design projects that emerge over the course of the project ultimately depend on the students themselves - and also on how many and what kind of garments are handed in at the end. The information from the interviews and questionnaires provides a comprehensive impression of a piece. Based on this, the students can ultimately decide for themselves from which perspective they would like to research the clothing - be it cultural-historical, ecological or material. "This approach of using the material itself as a starting point for research questions is called aesthetic research," explains Eller.
Gaining experience in project organisation
Apart from the kick-off performance, the students are working with the material in practice for the first time today; until now, the focus has been on organising the project: planning and preparing the photo shoots, designing questionnaires, setting up social media channels. In order not to lose the overview, a pillar was quickly converted into a pinboard - how to properly secure the photos and interviews is recorded here, as are the hashtags to be used for Instagram posts.
Getting to know all the "trappings" and not just discussing texts in the seminar goes down well with the participants: "Everyone can contribute with what they already know and we can learn from each other," says Maren Limpert. The students are supported by photographer Bonnie Bartusch and Lotikova, who has her studio in the shop next door and is in close professional dialogue with the students.
Oldenburg residents still have the opportunity to have their clothes photographed until the end of the month: the next photo session will take place on Friday, 12 January, from 2.00 to 3.00 pm. The project team also invites you to a "patch party" in the studio at the end of the semester: On Friday, 26 January from 6.00 to 9.00 pm, visitors can swap clothes, design patches (patches in German) themselves and use them to repair and spice up old or broken items of clothing. Clothing donors can also have photos taken that evening.
At the same time, the students will continue to analyse the interviews and questionnaires from the donors. In the summer semester, the focus will then be on analysing the items of clothing - the results will be presented in an exhibition at the end.
