Event Blog 3: Making Strange 5/28

Again at Professor Vesna's suggestion, I attended the Making Strange Exhibit by Vivan Sundaram on Thursday, May 28th. The exhibit is located in Fowler Museum, right on the UCLA campus. The exhibit has two basic sides: Gagawaka and Postmortem. The two differ dramatically, both visually and in intent.

A lengthy description of the exhibit, visible at the entrance

Gagawaka consists of 27 wearable garments made from recycled materials. It offers a friendly, artistic connection to fashion. Postmortem is made up of mannequins, tailor's models, wooden props, and anatomical models used to present the human body in rather disturbing ways.

Spine, 2 13, an example of Postmortem

Simply put, the Postmortem exhibit is terrifying and unsettling. Sundaram has eviscerated numerous mannequins and models, mounted parts of each on wooden bases, then added other pieces to create disturbing chimeras. In the above image of Spine, 2 13, the spine is actually upside down, meant to create the illusion of a face at the top. The pictures below of Echo, evoke a similar unsettling emotion. The front contains the inscription, a head facing downwards, and feet (not visible in the photo). The back contains shelving with various organs placed on a few levels. These pieces really served to unsettle me, which made me more open to the other side of the gallery.

Front view of Echo, part of Postmortem 

Back view of Echo, part of Postmortem

Probably the most disturbing piece is Coffin, which is a giant wood and glass coffin with two dismembered mannequins inside. The two seem to be embracing, but lack arms and their inside legs. One arm is placed askew on top of the female form, suggesting that she is pitifully attempting to embrace the male. They lay on a bed of vertebrae, the components of the spine, and other random organs. It perfectly represents the Postmortem half of the exhibit: disturbing and almost ugly.

Coffin, a particularly disturbing entry in Postmortem

The Gagawaka portion of the exhibit is starkly different. Here, Sundaram has used various materials to create outfits for whole (or nearly whole) mannequins. The art borders on fashion, as many are visually attractive and similar to modern fashion pieces.

Liberty, the dress is made of rubber and iron. This reminds me of the Ancient Roman Nike of Samothrace

 One of my favorite outfits is shown below. This suit is made entirely of recycled lycra athletic wraps, like Ace bandages an athlete would use for an ankle injury. Though the color is relatively mute, the outfit itself is very lively and aesthetically pleasing. I could definitely picture a high fashion model walking down a runway in something like this.

Pinofore, a suit made of recycled lycra wraps

 My definite favorite is the suit below. This is a plastic suit full of pills, suspended from the ceiling. One of the tour guides explained that most pills cannot be flown across borders, so most of the pills are just aspirin or NSAIDs, readily available in every drugstore in the world. Regardless, the rainbow effect is captivating and somewhat haunting. This gives the image of an addict, trapped inside a horrifying straightjacket of his own vices. This is not accidentally located next to the Postmortem pieces, and I believe it serves as a sort of transition between the two exhibits.

Pill-Fill, made of plastic and pills

The most exotic piece can be seen below. This outfit is made from recycled surgical masks, which give it much more color than almost any other piece (the zipper dress is much more vibrant, however). The style emulates a conservative Arabic dress (especially the headwear), whose culture dictates that women be shielded from the eyes of men. Accordingly, it is made from material meant to shield the wearer from particles in the air.

Immunity Cover, made from micro-dot surgical masks

 I really enjoyed this exhibit, especially because of the contrast between the two bodies of work. By placing the medically disturbing alongside the fashionably beautiful, I was forced to think about the relationship between our bodies and our appearance. I also was asked to think about the line between beauty and illness, between happiness and pain. The tour guide mentioned the fragility of the human existence as well, though I did not reach that point of inner reflection personally.

A selfie with the girl at the front desk of Fowler Museum