Body Control at Museum Arnhem –
Jewelry and fashion at the boundaries of the human body

 

To what extent can we, as humans, engineer our bodies? The exhibition Body Control, staged in De Kerk from the end of October 2019 until late January 2020, focusses on the human body. From Iris van Herpen’s anatomical couture to Katja Prins’ hybrid jewelry, from the “body-filling” jewelry made by Lauren Kalman to Anouk Wipprecht’s technological creations: the body as the wearer, but also as image determiner.

For centuries, fashion and jewelry designers have been shaping and exploring the body: what does the body mean, how do you experience it, and how does it relate to the space around it? This can be done from a personal angle, but the approach can also be biological, medical, or social. Some designers see the body as something that must be protected from outside influences, others want to upgrade it to a near-divine being.

Increasingly, fashion and jewelry designers reflect on the malleability and the limits of the body, like the perfection we pursue, and what imperfection does to us. Can we cross the physical boundary and realize a symbiosis between body and design? Where are the limits? Is there a limit at all?

 

On the basis of several themes like protection, upgrading, (im)perfection, (im)mortality and symbiosis, the exhibition Body Control reflects on a range of questions regarding the malleability of the human body in philosophizing, poetic, humorous or ironic way. Body Control includes works by both established and young (inter)national design talent – an exhibition with impact, on the interface between jewellery and fashion design, that will appeal to the general public as well as professionals.