Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion (2003 - 2012)
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Basic Instincts

Basic Instincts was on show at the OCT Art & Design Gallery in Shenzhen, China, from 29 September through 22 November. Premsela's travelling exhibition featured clothing by five contemporary Dutch fashion designers, as well as objects, photographs and scale models created by product designers, photographers and architects. Basic Instincts was also featured in Berlin (July 2011) and Arnhem (June / July 2012).

Photo: Lizzy Kalisvaart.

published on premsela.org, 2012

(Un-)Dutch

Iris van Herpen, Oda Pausma, Monique van Heist, Klavers van Engelen and Anne de Grijff design garments that are sometimes sculptural but often surprisingly wearable. All of them have a strikingly individual style and a distinctive take on fashion. Likewise, the product designers, photographers and architects in the show have more in common than they might appear to: each works out of a strong personal vision that guides him or her through the creative process.

Six different landscapes

Basic Instincts reveals the Netherlands' unique, multidisciplinary fashion and design culture in six varied exhibition landscapes. Surprises such as a palace of mirrors, an upside-down cinema and an inflatable wall make the show a colourful, inspiring experience. The first five landscapes serve as three-dimensional mood boards that draw links between various design disciplines. Each landscape, designed by Henrik Vibskov, centres on a single fashion designer and theme. The sixth is a multimedia installation that shows the world of fashion through photography and film. It features new work by the photographers Freudenthal/Verhagen and Petrovsky and Ramone.

Photo: Lizzy Kalisvaart.

Basic Instincts in China

Renilde Steeghs, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ ambassador for cultural cooperation, officially opened the Shenzhen show on 29 September. Basic Instincts was previously on view in July 2011 in Berlin and in June and July 2012 in Arnhem.

In China in September and October, designers and curators including Anne de Grijff and Lex Pott and Basic Instincts’ Luca Marchetti and Emanuele Quinz gave lectures in conjunction with the exhibition. An expert forum on Dutch and Chinese creative culture also took place.

China, until recently mainly a production country, is newly focusing on innovation and design and training a new generation of designers. The country has 2,000 design courses and more than a million design students. The Chinese government, like its Dutch counterpart, named the creative industry as one of the country's key sectors. China also seeks to increase investment in foreign markets. Yet collaboration between different design disciplines, as manifested in Basic Instincts, is still a new concept. Basic Instincts shows how designers living in open creative cultures, whether they make clothing, products or buildings, can share ideas.

Photo: Lizzy Kalisvaart.

Partners

SICA and the Chinese real estate developer OCT have signed a multiyear partnership agreement with the goal of encouraging cultural exchange between the Netherlands and China. Premsela’s Basic Instincts exhibition travels to Shenzhen as part of this endeavour. Basic Instincts at the OCT Art & Design Gallery is a coproduction of Premsela, OCT and SICA.

In collaboration with

The exhibition was created in 2011 as part of the Dutch Design Fashion Architecture programme. Premsela developed it in close collaboration with an international creative team made up of creative directors José Klap and Sandor Lubbe (Zoo Magazine), artistic curators Luca Marchetti and Emanuele Quinz (Mosign) and exhibition designer Henrik Vibskov.

Participating designers

  • Un-designed -Monique van Heist, Lex Pott, Pieke Bergmans, Stealth.Unlimited
  • Slow Forward - Iris van Herpen, Siba Sahabi, Paula Arntzen, Studio Jo Meesters, Georgios Maridakis, BCXSY, Doepel Strijkers
  • Soft Future - Klavers van Engelen, Pascal Smelik, Glithero, Sharon Geschiere, Bo Reudler Studio, Powerhouse Company
  • Metropolitan Sleek - Anne de Grijff, Whim Architecture, Scholten & Baijings
  • Perspectives - Oda Pausma, Frederike Top, Daphna Laurens, Gionata Gatto (Studio Atuppertu), Anne Holtrop
  • Panopticon - Blommers/Schumm, Petrovsky and Ramone, Matthias Vriens McGrath, Morad Bouchakour, Paul Kooiker, Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek, Freudenthal/Verhagen, Sandor Lubbe, Marcel van der Vlugt, Erwin Olaf, Hester Scheurwater, Joost Vandebrug