everything is dangerous!
Susan Kendzulak's newer series: Love/Hate
For the exhibition Fashion Accidentally at Taipei MOCA, Kendzulak presents everything is dangerous: Love/Hate.
Works that hint at fashion rather than being fashion have the ulterior motive to link two people together; it is their complicity that the works will help improve their relationship with each other.
A non-digital interactive work of a boxing ring with two pairs of attached boxing gloves allows two participants to duke it out. However, unlike a real match, the two will discover that rather than being opposing forces, their two bodies will move smoothly together as in the Tai Chi practice of “pushing hands.” The work invites cooperation and collaboration, rather than antagonistic individualism.
Several colorful knitted tubes appear to be functional wear such as socks, scarves and hats, but upon closer examination, they are absolutely frivolous. To be worn by two people much like a fair’s three-legged race, the wearers can experience walking through the museum linked to the other person. Will their experience be exterior, i.e. perceiving the works throughout the museum, or will their experience be interior, i.e. noticing the rhythms, breaths, footsteps, movements of their partner?
The tubes were based on a childhood toy of a woven bamboo tube called “Chinese handcuffs.” When two children placed their index fingers at either end of the tube and pulled, they were then tightly attached to each other.
Lately the news has stories of Siamese twins attached by their heads, two separate individuals permanently linked together. In a playful way, two knitted hats join a couple together to experience couple-hood. Is it a happy experience?
How do two people negotiate: body language, conversation? If the couple goes through the museum together, have they gained better insight of each other? Did they have a meaningful experience together?
Paradoxically, the joined hats are more antagonistic to the wearer than the boxing gloves. In today’s world, individuality wins.
Overall, this is not work to be looked at to appreciate its aesthetic qualities, but rather work that must be worn with another person to create a unique experience that is both physical and psychological.
Return home.