The vision of future utopias within EXHALATION is embodied through upcycling collections by designers Clara Marita Elaine, Nanyi Li, and Svenja Mangold, performances by the duo ÓSEWHEN, Noomi Aldinger, Rodolfo Piazza, Tim Luther, and Victoria McConnell, as well as workshops in collaboration with Circular Berlin, the Haus der Materialisierung, and the Kostümkollektiv.
EXHALATION
EXHALATION serves as a metaphor for the toxic and harmful effects of textile landfills on the environment and all living beings.
At the same time, it can be understood as a synonym for the sensation of breathing freely again – a sense of relief that emerges from the collective creation of utopias that envision futures with less waste.
EXHALATION symbolizes the often-invisible yet pervasive damage caused by the accumulation of discarded textiles. These negative effects are brought to light in a group exhibition featuring artists Anita Stetter, Frederick Herrmann, Jacob Häberli, Sarah Schurian, and Jonathan Tschaikowski. The exhibits reflect their individual perspectives and interactions with textile waste, forming an interdisciplinary interplay with a wild yet harmonious tonality.
In a symbiotic exchange, the themes of textile waste and future utopias amplify one another. The creation of future utopias is given space to unfold within the exhibition’s artistic environment, while the collections, performances, and workshops in turn provide a contextual framework for the artworks. At the same time, the fluid and embodied representations of future utopias activate the exhibited art, metaphorically "bringing it to life.
Curation
Sarah Schurian
Artists
Anita Stetter
Frederick Herrmann
Jacob Häberli
Jonathan Tschaikowski
Sarah Schurian
Designers
Clara Marita Elaine
Nanyi Li
Svenja Mangold
Dancers
Noomi Aldinger
Rodolfo Piazza
Maria José Ulloa Beteta
Tim Luther
Victoria McConnel
Anwen Sereina Ortiz
Partners
A-Gain-Guide
Circular Berlin
Fashion Changers
Haus der Materialisierung
Kemi Atelier
Kostümkollektiv Berlin
sparts
Streetware Saved Item
Exhibiting Space
Kunstraum m3
Atelierhaus Mengerzeile
The textile installation embodies decaying clothes on textile landfills, exhaling toxic fumes and smoke. Synthetic fabrics, when exposed to heat in warm and hot climates, release toxic vapours, can ignite, and produce thick plumes of smoke that contaminate the environment. The suspended heap of discarded clothing – hanging from invisible threads – resembles the mountains of waste found in landfills, appearing like ominous spirits hovering overhead.
At once visually compelling and unsettling, the installation evokes an unwanted, parasitic entity – something that seems almost alive, feeding off environmental destruction. Directly beneath it, the nature installation stands as its living counterpart. Here, plants grow in beds of soil and moss, forming a stark contrast to the “dead”
textiles above. At its centre, a pedestal holds a water jug, inviting visitors to engage, to
water the plants, to take care of them.
The video installation explores the challenges that blended fibres pose for textile processing and recycling. Extending their life cycle seems nearly impossible, as fibre separation is only feasible with pure materials.
Projected onto a blended fibre textile, the moving image shows a rotating cotton branch, tightly wrapped in plastic foil. Dynamic cuts stage the branch in shifting lighting conditions – sometimes in extreme close-up, sometimes from afar – before a dramatic turn unfolds: it suddenly bursts into flames. The visual composition is accompanied by an intense sound – the relentless hum of sewing machines in a textile factory merging with an overdriven techno beat.
Looping endlessly, the installation presents the inevitable fate of blended fibres. The aesthetic circularity of the installation contradicts the fibre
it portrays – a material that symbolizes the very antithesis of circularity in the fashion and
textile industry.
Häberli and Stetter report on mitumba, second-hand clothes donated from Europe, Asia, and the USA to Kenya and Tanzania. The raw, unedited photos, taken with a mobile phone, offer an authentic, unfiltered view of the second-hand markets in Kenya and Tanzania, including the traders and consumers. The focus of Häberli and Stetter's work is primarily on documenting the people, places, and processes involved. Despite common prejudices about the exploitative nature
of mitumba as a symptom of globalization, the photo reportage captures lived experiences and stories from those working in the relevant work environments.
EXHALATION embodies a duality – between the suffocating impact of waste and the liberating potential of collective action – encouraging reflection on our role as both contributors to the problem and agents of change within a collective framework.
PARTNERS
