Space as Clothing/ Clothing as Space II

In this following practice based seminar (SS 2025), we will develop and work on the materialisation and production of our last semesters research, where we could have a closer look of the historical and contemporary development of clothing and in particular the interaction of clothing and space in the broadest/ diverse sense, especially from our very personal perspectives as part of the concept “Space as Clothing/ Clothing as Space II”.

The reasons why humans dress can be summarized in three theories: the protection theory (clothing as protection against the environment and dangers), the shame theory (clothing for moral or religious reasons) and the jewelry theory (the desire to stand out and attract admiration). Today, it is assumed that these motives are closely related and cannot be considered in isolation. Clothing not only covers and protects, but also serves as an expression of individuality. Since the earliest beginnings of human history, clothing has been one of the first objects, cultural goods and items made by humans. In addition to protection from the weather, when hunting and when attacked by animals or insects, clothing acts as a “second skin” for humans, not only as a protective cover, but also as a means of communication that positions the wearer in the field of “tension” between these aspects and has an effect both internally and externally. This practice based seminar is process-oriented, and the outcome and results which can be understood as a hybrid between clothing/object/sculpture/space, wishes to analyse and reveal exact these “tensions”. Especially the individual perspectives of the seminar participants and their personal relationship between space and clothing from both an inner and outside perspective. These multidimensional reflections of the inside and outside will be transformed and developed into material, surface and form individually but also collectively and will be deepened through experimentation and the diversity of the individual production methods and craftsmanship. Therefore all seminar participants - after a phase of practice/ experimentation/ solution finding, which are based on their concepts, will produce a body of work individually and collaborate with the various workshops of their interest at the KHB, that we visited together in the last semester. The diverse multi dimensional results shall accumulate into a joint presentation and will be bound together into a collective atmosphere and performative presentation by all participants in which the various dimensions and senses of the thematic complex (visual/audio/smell/movement) can be part of.