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  • January 17

  • 1/17, 4:57am

    Maffew Lindekdjkfj





  • 1/17, 5:04am

    Maffew Lindefgf





  • 1/17, 5:04am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerja



    ja



    ha



    ja





  • 1/17, 5:13am

    Maffew LindeCould you talk about your interest with Barthes?





  • 1/17, 5:14am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerwell thank you you typed that one out



    ähm



    ok





  • 1/17, 5:16am

    Maffew LindeRegarding The Fashion System...I understand its been a seminal text for people researching fashion theoretically. But I feel It's also always the first and sometimes only text people refer to, simply because of its title.





  • 1/17, 5:16am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeroh absolutely so



    I think this is one part of my answer



    this is why I picked it uo



    p



    you know how in art school



    people are throwing names,



    that vaguely refer to themes and topics



    like one would say "BENJAMIN" and vaguely mean pieces of his work



    or even just refer to a mood that was created in a lecture one once attended to



    these sort of things.



    and then in fashion, where, I am sorry to say, people are particularly sloppy about content



    intellectual accuracy so to say



    so yes, I wanted to know



    and I started to more or less succesfully work myself thorugh "the language of fashion"



    which is the translation of the german title of the work "die sprache der mode"



    I was and still am not familiar with the rest of barthes works. I know what he deals with but I really just got into that one book/text





  • 1/17, 5:21am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerwhat I liked was exactly the unusual approach, as it is an approach to language, to what role language plays through its role of describing and therefore turning something into a fact- I loved when he disected those fashion journalisme sentences "a little hat with a ribbon is what makes the spring"





  • 1/17, 5:22am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerso I guess that is what caught my attention. this very question of how something becomes "fashion" fashionable, in trend



    and by saying something else drops out



    (the hats without ribbons)



    me at that point preparing my diploma work and really really trying to go back down down to essentials. to trend as such



    thats the story





  • 1/17, 5:23am

    Maffew Lindetrends of what place?





  • 1/17, 5:24am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerplace?



    trend as in





  • 1/17, 5:24am

    Maffew Lindetrends of where? there are so many trends, or use of that word, trends as WGSN prescribes?





  • 1/17, 5:24am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerok



    well, all of them, art or design, food or medicine, i consider human interest and cultural directions trends. but specifically for this body of work and barthes fashion trends



    or trends within consumer goods



    all day objects





  • 1/17, 5:27am

    Maffew Lindeoh right, is that where your fascination with branding came from? Branding, in terms of its preference for text seem to resonate to what Barthes was trying to get at



    i mean, the question, could be what is your fascination with branding?





  • 1/17, 5:28am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeryes, true, I guess so. of course this creative process is organic, but now that you name it it seems very much that too



    branding fascinates me on an abstract level, less luxury branding itself



    like a vuitton bag



    more like low end branding



    or the possibility



    that the mere aspect of branding something ( like with my anna-sophie berger tshirts) could generate value



    even without it referring to a whole established enterprise



    what I am trying to say is that I find it funny that these days, as we are used to branding, one could label or brand without having the thing ready or having it at all, that one would want to brand.





  • 1/17, 5:30am

    Maffew Lindetotally



    in this scenario though, aren't you branding some other kinda of product that is available to purchase though - like the thing would be 'you', the ideal of anna-sophie berger





  • 1/17, 5:32am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeryes, best case scenario,







    but! what happened actually is that kids would just reblogg on tumblr, I truly think without a notion of what I am, or my work as an artist



    simply because it appealed to them as a fashionable cool thing. a tshirt with white typeface





  • 1/17, 5:33am

    Maffew Linderight, but this becomes part of your branding technique?





  • 1/17, 5:34am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeroh yes very much so





  • 1/17, 5:34am

    Maffew Lindeyou choose to have you tumblr i mean





  • 1/17, 5:35am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeroh yes, i mean, i started it to play



    as we all do



    but I am way to analytic not to watch closely the processes going on there



    I like to find out what things work,



    what gets reblogs



    when the time is best



    if I had time I would start a whole research about it



    I also love the inherent unpredictability about it



    suddenly something goes viral



    and I have absolutely no clue



    why



    now



    this



    often things that I dont particularly like,



    things with no specific value



    but I grow fond of my "TOP POSTS"



    i establish a relationship to it, its an image I would never show as part of my work



    i think it is in that sense poor work



    but I love watching it going through channels



    and that is about what happened with the fashion is fast thing



    i had this one image, iphone, bad quality, long before my new collection explained this fashion is fast topic



    and it just went viral



    and I loved that.



    no reason behind



    like an algorythm





  • 1/17, 5:38am

    Maffew Lindehaha





  • 1/17, 5:40am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerbut



    you must know that too



    being an internet kid yoursef



    l





  • 1/17, 5:44am

    Maffew LindeI remember the first designer garment i bought was this hideously boring basic margiela top, but i wanted to buy it because of its history, i didn't care for the top, i cared for the ideal. Is this pernicious or acceptable? And do you *aim* to brand your art?





  • 1/17, 5:44am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeroh, oh no definately not pernicious



    i would say we all have these stories



    its not even nostalgic



    its admiration and that is what makes consumerisme, I'd say, still supportable. attachement to things



    imagine you'd have no attachement



    to anything, no ideal values attached





  • 1/17, 5:49am

    Maffew Lindei dont know, i like it but i also find it corrupt in someway, of course I attach myself to ideals, but when it becomes the *goal* yknow? wrapped up in economics and consumerism as you say. That's why I hate luxury. ..anyway, i like your work a lot, the branding of it serves not as a reminder of your work, but is the work itself which i think is the difference, maybe.





  • 1/17, 5:49am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeroh



    i think I share your critisism



    on void luxury consumption



    but I would never be that hard on someone buying a piece for its history



    I think there is a vast difference between those two approaches



    because if we are talking luxury consumption, the problem is that the primar concern of the shopper becomes their interest in an attached value



    that I do not approve of,



    which is satus defined through costly/luxurious lifestyle



    owning



    you see I am saying what matters is the attached value



    of the one buying



    ( i actually think this carhatt thing fits hear, i will tell you about it )





  • 1/17, 6:00am

    Maffew Lindei dont even know if theres void luxury consumption though..it becomes problematic to separate people in these two categories - the buyer who buys for status and the buyer who buys for history. One presumes a passive audience and the other an active. which is why i have trouble with Barthes because, at least in his earlier works, he believed in this dichotomy, between consumer and activist..... like the people who reblog images of yours on the internet without knowing your work just because they think the image looks 'cool' and the people who know what's it all about. who can tell when buying luxury is void or not. i dont think you can. my issue is that extreme luxury exists at all. like if your branded shirts became so culturally rarefied they became the cost of a koons work, i would hate that





  • 1/17, 6:01am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerok



    i see where your issue with that lies



    yes I agree that I am appaled by extreme ends of consumption



    or by the question why one could be attracted to such thing



    but yes, I think I can categorise and I do



    I do position my, subjective but conscious decision, that I make at best morals, over another decision



    you see



    this is not to make people good and bad



    it is simply acknoledging that I think some things better then others. that is creating a system of values



    so yes, to me it is relevant if you told me why you wanted something and do take the liberty of judging your reasons as better than others



    and I am not trying to say



    that if you just explained to me why jeff koons costs such and such



    i will say: oh great!



    ( i am asking immanuel weather he thinks luxury immoral )





  • 1/17, 6:16am

    Maffew Lindethe reason why i am so fixated on this is because i see a growing amount of fashion practices that operate to masquerade as a luxury label without having the required forms, as you say a brand without any product. and by doing this, by pretending to be a luxury they ultimately aim to critique luxury...but i must say, i fear at times this technique of exaggeration, of overblowing luxury as a method of critique just ends up enforcing luxury as something desirable.





  • 1/17, 6:17am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeraha





  • 1/17, 6:20am

    Maffew Lindei am still confused about it though, which is a good thing...like what bernadette corpoeration started with critquing the language of fashion by operating as one from the 'outside' did they essentially just become 'inside' though, and reinforced all the things they were trying to subvert? i feel this type of manoeuvre is growing more and more





  • 1/17, 6:20am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeroh i think its always been there



    you know



    the avantgardes



    have continuously



    been self distructive



    through the mere fact that they became public



    that is populart



    popular





  • 1/17, 6:28am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeralso,





  • 1/17, 6:28am

    Maffew Lindethats true, its not new, but i guess i just see it more within fashion practices per se





  • 1/17, 6:29am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeryes, I think your question about the actual value of the sort of "institutional critique" those brands are placing when alluding to luxury is valid



    i read this article the other day on mousse



    http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=1054



    in a nutshell



    it also tackles the question of the validity of the critique say dis magazine is placing



    like



    if a sort of undirected involvement and playing with a certain style is valid as critique



    or weather it just creates another hype



    i guess I could redirect that question towards my own work



    the show I will be doing



    you have just read the press release



    essentially I am treating commerce as my subject matter



    as fabric for my ideas



    and I do not implement or attach direct critique to that



    you know



    it is mostly observational



    i would not call it indulging





  • 1/17, 6:32am

    Maffew Lindecompletely , this makes sense





  • 1/17, 6:32am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerbut definately it is woth a discussion



    my idea of art normally includes those concepts that deal with things without ouvertly stating why something is wrong



    but also that is sort of our time. at least us "internet kids" that we come from societies where criticisme normally is not urgently needed to provide us with things we are missing



    KRITIK





  • 1/17, 6:40am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerwell with my poor words, I guess I am saying,



    simply that we are not really busy with activism or open critisisme



    in our current art practices



    and we also don't enjoy it much when faced with it



    this is why I told you about lorna simpson



    and I know it might sound like a horrible disclosure



    but when I go see her show, I get her, I get her ideas



    I see the critique, the values



    but I am still bored and I leave



    because this litteral approach to all this issue seems outdated to me



    so now when I leave



    I actually do feel immoral haha



    thats the funny part



    it always comes back to the question weather art can or should at all change anything



    maybe its like my tumblr



    i cant predict





  • 1/17, 6:49am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerso I want to know what your feelings about new york are, apart from obvious excitement, I mean more in a sense of getting deeper into a scene, going places, art events. how is the relation between what you imagined, what you might have hoped to find, how does it feel simply? in relation to your work also maybe.





  • 1/17, 7:01am

    Maffew Lindefirst let me say i do love it here, i romanticise the city more than any other person i know. on a deeper level - its been interesting to see how art here is not funded by the state or institutions but by private bodies and philaplorists, which is the complete opposite to Australia. I have only been to shows in manhattan so my idea of the art here is still skewed, all very white wall and clean and visually deserving to be on contemporary art daily.com. I am still yet to go see more of the smaller artist run spaces in brooklyn which is probably more exciting? PS1 seems to come up in conversation every hour here I feel, which is great that there's this big place to support younger artsits and more daring works. The openings in Chelsea are lots of fun, fun for people watching too. It's been fun meeting people i know online irl too, theres always people visiting here, unlike Melbourne which remains, at large, a bubble. I am making a small performance work during my stay here, I don't need big studio spaces so this city seems appropriate like any other city to make work in.





  • 1/17, 7:02am

    Maffew Lindeof course time is hard because everything is so distracting, but everything is so beautiful, im a romantic, so much romance here, it makes me happy





  • 1/17, 7:03am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerits funny, I have lived in other big cities



    but also just yesterday in conversation



    I felt again and said



    how easy going new york still is for me



    even with distances.



    i am not saying its not challenging



    and its a metropole



    but I still enjoy running around on this island just going places



    and you are right



    its a nice flow



    of people coming in, and people leaving again



    would you say the environment could be better/worse for the production of your work?



    let alone the question of funding for a sec





  • 1/17, 7:07am

    Maffew Lindethe busier the better for me, of course i would like a comfortable space which seems to be the most difficult thing to get here, space.





  • 1/17, 7:07am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeryes true



    i feel like I just can't say. I love it here. I feel like I don't want to leave, at the same time I am not yet sure if i can fully adapt to the timemanagement here



    you know



    last 6 years i spent in vienna



    and we never ever made lunch appointments



    ever



    or bookings. I haven't used my calendar application ever, I do now here



    ok



    here s another one



    how do you handle your curatorial postion in terms of running centre for style versus your artist persona and life



    I am always curious about that



    because I know I couldnt do it



    I am so self involved haha





  • 1/17, 7:11am

    Maffew Lindeoh yes





  • 1/17, 7:11am

    Anna-Sophie Bergereven though I do acknowledge other peoples work and share it, collect it, refer to it





  • 1/17, 7:15am

    Maffew Lindethey are two different identities, two different gmail accounts, two different instagrams



    centre for style is very young but entering a phase were i can become quite entrepreneurial, where i can email big institutions and propose a show, propose an idea and feel ok about it, because its under centre for style and not maffew linde





  • 1/17, 7:18am

    Anna-Sophie Bergeroh true





  • 1/17, 7:18am

    Maffew Lindemaffew linde is a lot more scared, like i'll include half naked photos



    of myself





  • 1/17, 7:18am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerthat aspect is interesting





  • 1/17, 7:20am

    Maffew Lindecentre for style is free too, very open in its operations, but it's also this institution in itself, i dont view myself as an institutions, i dont want to brand myself/art. i want to brand CfS





  • 1/17, 7:22am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerok



    so Cfs is the outsourcing



    process of what you do not want to get to close to you



    as an artistz





  • 1/17, 7:25am

    Maffew Lindei wanted to address the use of bodies in your work, why and how you use bodies, and the politics of bodies in your art




  • January 18

  • 1/18, 3:49am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerok I am almost running out the house but I want to try to answer this while its fresh



    speaking of bodies and perforance: I finally dared to ask jane, my flatmate, to be part of my performance and she immediately said yes



    so I have my group assembled for the 26th



    so bodies, firstly



    they serve as a center part of any garmental worl



    k



    even if you chose to show a dress solely on the ground/wall the reference to a neck, an arm etc will forever be inscribed



    so working in fashion for me was always a sort of sculptural approach to body.



    then also the human body moves, it is not still, and I love that fact. it creates the most amazing unpredictable things when in movement, by that I mean gestures, but also what it does to the material that covers it. folds and spaces.





  • 1/18, 3:54am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerthis is also what interest me in performance. on the one hand, I am very interested on individuals specialities, in terms of gesture mimik and movement. the most subtle codes of body language, on the other hand, I like the simplicity, even banality of the simple movement of two arms above ones head.





  • 1/18, 3:55am

    Anna-Sophie Bergerso yes, i would say my interest is twofold, it is an interest in individuals, and specific behaviour of one versus another person, but also the general universal facts of a human body, arms legs, heads.



    how about you? what signifies your interest in bodies?