Forms & Alterations

808 Gallery

Opening Reception: Friday, February 2, 6:00-8:00pm  

with Fashion Performance by Qwear 

Forms & Alterations considers how concepts of gender and identity are expressed, constructed, and questioned through the intersections of performance and strategies of dress, clothing, and textiles. The exhibition highlights contemporary practitioners working between the disciplines of fine art and experimental fashion who employ the material and visual language of clothing in order to subvert and perform the relationship between clothing, gender, and the body. Through the appropriation of DIY aesthetics, the innovative use of material and form, and a performative approach to personal style, the participating artists challenge fashion’s commodification of the body and mainstream conventions of dress. With particular attention to the artistic practices of women and LGBTQI artists, Forms & Alterations addresses the body as a creative and contested site in which gender norms are redefined and negotiated through clothing and self-styling. 

Qwear, the acclaimed queer fashion platform, is joined by a diverse group of QTPOC performers for an opening night fashion show and performance at the Boston University Art Galleries’ exhibition Forms & Alterations. ‘Legendary Children’ will explore what contemporary queer fashion means against the backdrop of the building’s history as a 1930’s Cadillac Showroom. This opening night event features the premiere of Qwear’s third apparel collection, whose pieces are drawn according to the individual specifications of each performer. This unique approach to design, where the models are also the designers, gives the audience a chance to be guided by queer expression within an environment evocative of both the House Ballroom Scene and the hegemonic, consumerist legacy of a luxury vehicle dealership.

Participating artists are Lisa Anne Auerbach, A.K. Burns, CarWash Collective (Beverly Semmes and Jennifer Minniti), Susan Cianciolo, Claire Fleury and Alesia Exum, Genevieve Gaignard, K8 Hardy, Katherine Hubbard and MPA, Susan Metrican, Beverly Semmes, Stacy A. Scibelli, Qwear, Sarah Zapata, and Andrea Zittel. 

Image caption: Katherine Hubbard + MPA, Untitled, 2010, Unique photo print, 4×6 inches. Courtesy the artists and Higher Pictures, New York.

Cover Image: Beverly Semmes, Olga, 2008, Ceramic, Rayon velvet, silk velvet, and taffeta, 84 x 82 x 84 inches.  Courtesy the artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, New York.

Film Screening

Outfitumentary by K8 Hardy, followed by Q&A with the artist.

Wednesday, February 7, 7:00 pm
Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle Street, Cambridge

http://www.bu.edu/art/events/past/film-screening-outfitumentary/