15% at Fashion Interactions

If you haven’t seen the factory in the window of 66 Fifth Avenue yet, you have until Tuesday December 10 to see Janelle Abbott, a BFA Fashion Design graduate and Designer of the Year finalist from 2012, perform in 15%, which I co-created with Salla Salin. The performative installation explores the fashion system and our relationship to it from a number of perspectives. Kasia Broussalian recently interviewed me for Research Radio about it; the podcast is here. The exhibition, Fashion Interactions, is curated by Annamari Vänskä, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Centre for Fashion Studies at the University of Stockholm, and Hazel Clark, Research Chair of Fashion at Parsons. The exhibition also features Dresscode by Nutty Tarts and Heidi Lunabba, and un fit by Federico Cabrera, Jasmin Mishima, Anna Mustonen, Heidi Soidinsalo, Saara Töyrylä and Timo Wright. The exhibition is the result of a partnership between Parsons, the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, and the Centre for Fashion Studies (Stockholm University).

In the month-long performance Janelle has produced 200+ bags of off-cut waste and t-shirts. The last day of the exhibition is Wednesday December 12, and on that day I’ll be at the Sheila and Arnold Aronson Galleries from noon to 6pm. If you would like to own a piece of the artwork (a bag of off-cut waste and a t-shirt) here are the instructions for acquiring a piece:

Step 1. You donate a sum of money to a charity and receive a receipt for it.
Step 2. You show me the receipt in person (as part of Step 3).
Step 3. You pick up a part of the artwork from the gallery, at 66 Fifth Avenue, on Wednesday December 11, 12-6pm. Acquired artworks or parts of them may not be returned to us under any circumstances.

Please note: Your charitable donation does not guarantee that you will receive a part of artwork as the artwork may run out. There is no such thing as wasted charity.

We will not send any part of the artwork to anywhere in the world. You must pick it up in person or have someone pick it up for you, from the above stated location at the above stated time, with your receipt.

About the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center is an award-winning campus center for Parsons The New School for Design that combines learning and public spaces with exhibition galleries to provide an important new downtown destination for art and design programming. The mission of the Center is to generate an active dialogue on the role of innovative art and design in responding to the contemporary world. Its programming encourages an interdisciplinary examination of possibility and process, linking the university to local and global debates. The center is named in honor of its primary benefactor, New School Trustee and Parsons Board of Governor’s Member Sheila C. Johnson. The design by Rice+Lipka Architects is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. For more information please visit http://www.newschool.edu/sjdc.

Finnish Cultural Institute in New York
The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York aims to promote Finnish art, design and architecture in New York and in North America at large. The Institute runs an artist-in-residency program in New York and produces, curates and presents exhibitions and other events in collaboration with local galleries and museums. Its goal is to develop active collaboration networks with professionals and organizations within the field of visual arts. The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York is one of the 17 Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes abroad. It is a member of the EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) cluster in New York.

Sheila C. Johnson Design Center General Information
Location: 66 Fifth Avenue, New York
Gallery hours: Open daily 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m. Closed all major holidays and holiday eves.
Admission: Free
Info: Please contact 212.229.8919 or visit http://www.newschool.edu/sjdc