SARA VRUGT @ SENSO UNICO

Sara Vrugt studied fashion design at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague and graduated in 2006. In her work she balances between fashion design and art. She uses textile as a medium and the human body as an instrument. 

Look At You is a series of textile installations, collections and community projects. The subject matter is the fine line between the human instinct and conventions in our society. She likes to reflect and criticize her immediate environment and society. A returning aspect in her work.

(photocredits JW Kaldenbach)

Sara, why did you start the Look At You series?

The way people look at each other and are being seen fascinates me. What are you showing of yourself with the way you dress, your presence, your behavior? Is it a pose?

In what way does this influence your opinion of another?

In Istanbul you showed two parts of the Look At You serie. Number 7 and number 10.

Yes I did. Look At You 10 I did as a performance in The Netherlands. It is an embroidered installation. I embroidered myself into an installation. Therefor I became an attached part of the work, the spectator was free to move. Looking and being looked at are the ingredients for the performance in this setting. It is about the confrontation the artist engages the spectator in, simply by looking at him, it can be felt as inviting, intriguing and intimidating at the same time. 

Look At You 7 are five miniature embroidery pieces I made while traveling overland from The Netherlands to Iran. These miniature embroideries are like textile blog posts. These embroideries contain 'pictures' over encountered people presented as strangers, but I was the stranger as well. It is about the question of perspective. 

Number 10 is the last of the series. Why did you use this piece to end the series?

In the original version, in which I was attached, different elements came together. Embroidery, being looked at, looking, being part of a space, performance and encountering others. It was all I had done before but It felt like I had to experience the whole series. 

In Istanbul I used a doll to be attached into the embroidered installation. 

What are you doing at the moment?

I'm working on a series of embroideries as well as preparing new projects in which I'll ask others to join.

press for SALON/Istanbul

SALON/Istanbul: gathered press clippings (Dutch and Turkish)

NRC Handelsblad

HARBERTURK

HELLO!

Vogue Turkey

De Volkskrant

De Telegraaf

Ersöz Ata at Grand Hotel de Londres

Ersöz Ata, having articulated various religious and spiritual codes in his last collection introduced in Spring 2012, assembles an era extending from Antiquity to Renaissance, through a single frame. Maria Magdalena, on of the most remarkable pieces among his last collection of Ata, represents the spiritual references upon the body of a woman in a sculptural form. 

This costume stands gracefully in the lounge of the marvelous Grand Hotel de Londres and is fully made out of metal and glass. Ersöz Ata works and lives in Istanbul. He studied design, ceramic and fashion design and specialized in leather and fur product design. 

www.ersozata.com

Covers (2001-2012) at FAI

(photocredits: JW Kaldenbach)
 
Covers (2001-2012) is a chronological display of the front pages of BUTT, Fantastic Man and The Gentlewoman, three international magazines founded and published by Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom from Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

However different they may be, the magazines share a keen interest in fascinating personalities and real people with captivating stories that please both readers and spectators. The show that originality and personal style are inspiring qualities in men and women of the 21st century. 

Down the historic city centre of Istanbul you can find FAI. It stands for Future Anecdotes Istanbul. A graphic design studio run by Asli Altay who has an MA from Graphic Design and Communication, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. Her book 'Future Anecdotes'; which gave the name of the studio, is in the Tate Modern Artist’s Book Collection in London, amongst some other private and public collections. Asli has also conducted lectures and workshops in London College of Communication, Chelsea College of Art & Design and University of Creative Arts.

www.fantasticman.com

www.thegentlewoman.com

www.futureanecdotesistanbul.com

Merva Tuna's performance @ Building

Merve Tuna's idea to put a belly dancer in a black latex outfit with matching mask, started when she travelled the London tube while listening to German cyber punk rock. Tuna originates from Istanbul and doesn't deliver boring fashion. This Turkish fashion designer has a keen sense of disturbing fashion.

After a period of taxidermia-fashion, she went from dead animals having orgies on a dress towards belly dancers in latex. At SALON/ we are more than happy to demonstrate a fresh vision of fashion with contradictions.
After her performance in the garden of design-store Building, she elaborates on her love for contradictions. "The song made me think about my youth, which is odd because it was German cyber punk, something that was not there when I was a child." She explains how one thing let to another. Because she felt there was a real resemblance with belly dance music, she felt she had to take this weirdness into a higher level. And she put in into an act.

A wise decision. Months later she shows her London tube idea by using a belly dancer wearing a S&M mask, a bra and a skirt with strings. All latex, all black, all Merve Tuna.