'Open Fashion: Exquisite Corpse' at Loughborough University London

 

An exhibition of international work arising from collaborations curated by the Textile Design Research Group at Loughborough University and Loughborough University Arts was shown on 13-14 September at Loughborough University London alongside the one-day INTERSECTIONS Conference on 13 September 2017. The exhibition showcases the work of over 30 collaborations from leading designers, practitioners, artists, artisans, academics, scientists and engineers. ‘Open Fashion: Exquisite Corpse’ by Space Between is a developing fashion decision making system that utilize pre-consumer clothing waste in combination with an emergent web-based information platform. It focuses on using participatory and co-creation design practices to challenge the negative impacts of fashion waste, improving consumer decision making and enabling engagement with the true cost of clothing.

Grids provide a visual starting point signifying the intention to make design and production processes transparent. ‘Dark’ and ‘critical’ design informs the work through satirical motifs that draw on the history of clothing and textile production, engaging consumers humorously with ideas around fashion and sustainability. Role of Collaboration: The Open Fashion project has three main areas of collaboration:i) between varied research practitioners enabling individual nodes of design to connect, building capacity for a flourishing creative network ii) with external partners (NZ basketball); and iii) with users/consumers through the emerging online co-creation and information system. The work for ‘Intersections’ aims to provide insight into the emerging system and to engage the public in its creation, enabling feedback loops and empathy building. More broadly, Space Between collaborates with partners including organizations like Earthlink Inc., to increase social mobility and inclusion, alongside the aim of reducing textile and clothing waste.

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