INES DOUJAK
SALE
2 February to 21 May 2018
INES DOUJAK. SALE
2 February to 21 May 2018
The Large Hall of the LENTOS is transformed into a fashion store! The Austrian artist Ines Doujak presents her highly unusual fashion collections. The exhibition space mutates temporarily into a changing room: visitors are welcome to touch, try on and take pictures.
Citing and at the same time calling into question the glamour of the fashion world, Doujak’s works are characterized both by their determined criticism and their beauty. The artist brings into play the exploitative structures and the gender and class order hardwired into haute couture and the garment industry and deliberately blurs the demarcation line separating fashion statement and art.
Ines Doujak reckons with the intrinsic power of images in developing her own compelling formal language. In doing so, she combines elements of collage with historical and political research, as the exhibition’s curator, LENTOS director Hemma Schmutz, points out.
The exhibition "Ines Doujak. SALE "offers art to touch and try on. The LENTOS becomes a place where visitors can experience works of art in the truest sense of the word. Anyone who has the curiosity and the courage to try things out, expects an exhibition experience outside the norm, says Doris Lang-Mayerhofer, cultural councilor of the city of Linz, enthusiastic about the concept.
The focus is on textile workers burnt to death in their factories, on total exhaustion as the lot of men and women in the low-wage sector, on dirty secrets, animal and human skins, Carnival and masquerade, drugs, war and the devil himself. Motifs and themes are directly inscribed on the textiles as carrier material. Fabrics, patterns, garments and accessories as well as texts, publications, objects, videos, dance interludes and pieces of music deal with the links between fashion, colonialism and globalized relations of production.
The show at the LENTOS lays claim to a great deal of the museum’s available space, from the foyer and the stairwell to the Great Hall on the upper floor. It comprises altogether seven collections, dating to the years 2012 to 2018, that address the dark side of the fashion industry. The exhibition’s opening day will see the video work A Mask Is Always Active (part of the Carneval collection) projected on to the museum’s façade.
The exhibition is based on Loomshuttles / Warpaths, an artistic-scientific research project that has already been going on for many years. The project includes Doujak’s “eccentric archive“, which traces the history of globalisation on the evidence of textiles from the region of the Andes. For this purpose, the archive also enlists the service of an open-ended series of posters, sculptures, performances and texts, which is very much a work in continual progress. Having initially committed herself to the analysis, handling and processing of existing materials, Ines Doujak then proceeded to developing her own materials and having garments fashioned from them. Parts of this steadily evolving fashion collection were already on display in the exhibition Not Dressed for Conquering at Stuttgart’s Württembergischer Kunstverein and in Masterless Voices at the Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kracow.
The exhibition at the LENTOS is accompanied by the publication of Loomshuttles, Warpaths. An Eccentric Archive 2010–2018, with texts in English by Ines Doujak and John Barker, produced in collaboration with the Württembergischer Kunstverein.
WORKS
The Devil Opens a Night School
(Foyer, Main Hall)
A tent made from a specifically designed material, the pattern of which consists of bleeding horses, rotting grapes, and scorched wood, serves as the location for the devil’s night school. The pattern on the screens and on the items of clothing is reminiscent of drops of blood. In the video installation the devil opens a night school to teach the secrets of success and failure. The circulating school began in the Ukraine and in Spain, countries in which crisis, violence of profit, and the resulting collapse are directly felt. The business of war and drugs is shown through the figure of the devil, in his many forms and names.
Carnival
(Passage between the main hall and the collection, Main Hall)
To confuse rather than hide: In WWI the British Navy painted wild geometric shapes on thousands of ships to protect them from submarines. The pop-up store as well as the dolls are covered in the same camouflage patterns. In some cultures body movements, film, and song are often directly translated into patterns on textiles, in which the colors go to war with each other, or are at least in conflict. “Held up by a musical off-beat these patterns shake the fringes and seams, which they see as an expression of an order that must be broken”, says Doujak.
The video A Mask Is Always Active is a musical on carnival, utopia, and rebellion. It begins with a singing mountain, that was first “scaled” by European explorers on the backs of indigenous porters. The mountain has had enough of the robbery of its riches and the exploitation of the humans working inside it. And so the mountain begins its journey to the carnival … Ownerless voices sing unforgiving songs in the darkness. Some people regret that they are not dressed to conquer. A brazen researcher, sometimes naked, sometimes clothed in camouflage, blends with the carnival folk like a group of Dança do Ombrinho dancers.
Fires
(Main Hall)
Images of flames, chains, and naked human bodies are printed onto bales of cloth and onto clothing. Burns and burn wounds are a daily part of life for seamstresses in textile factories in so-called low-wage countries. In order to keep up with the extremely tightly calculated time schedules, “voluntary” over-time is the norm, and in some cases the factories gates are simply locked. However, the image of fire is not only used metaphorically for the textile factories that go up in flames due to missing security standards or the burn-out of the modern-day wage-slaves. It is also a reference to the workers who set the factories or even themselves on fire in protest. The 22-year-old textile worker Chun Tae-il set himself on fire in 1970 in protest of the blatant exploitation of the mostly female textile workers in the industrial area of Seoul. “We are not machines!” he called out as he burnt. The audio file in the exhibition contains an interview with his sister, the union activist Dr. Chun Soon-ok.
Dirty Secret
(Main Hall)
Various patterns can be seen on the items of clothing and notebooks displayed in the pop-up store. The stories behind these patterns were literally “woven” into them. In the context of an long-term artistic research called
Loom Shuttles, Warpaths, Doujak investigated the interplay of textiles, clothing, and colonialism. The artist collected woven, knitted, or embroidered textiles from the Andes. In that area textiles have a very high significance. Textiles from that region are shaped by an imperialist history, by oppression, and by resistance: “In the midst of the sharply cut black square the dirty secret of thousands of years of patterns can be found”, as Doujak says.
Booklets entitled Fatal Obstacles or Dangerous Elegance critically remind us of the colonialist past.
Transport
(Stairwell, Main Hall)
The installation Transport consists of multiple parts: wooden boxes, various objects (e.g. a necklace on which the conjuror’s rabbit is chained “that deconstructs the fiction of ‘comparative advantage’ in free trade” (Doujak), collages that show porters, and a collection of bags). Images of porters are also printed on the bags. In many parts of the world cargo is often still transportedby human porters – despite the possibility of using various mechanical
equipment. Due to free trade agreements, low transportation costs, and technical development in logistics (such as bar codes or container ships), textile production is becoming increasingly globalized. Retail chains and fashion brands intentionally look for low-income areas for their production.
Kriminalaffe
(Main Hall)
The items of clothing, as well as a number of objects, such as a folding screen and a rocking chair, are covered with prints of monkeys and humans found on the internet. A shawl printed with the words “Class Hatred” hints at the connection of social origin and racialization. People with darker skin are portrayed as monkeys – modern racism has its own iconography. F. W. Taylor also claimed to see a comparison between human beings and monkeys, in that he described workers in 1911 as “intelligent gorilla”, who trytheir best to “do as little as possible, without it being noticed”. The title Kriminalaffe is taken from the children’s book Kasperglück und Löwenreise by Janosch. The Kriminalaffe sees how he is turning into a monkey the more he imitates himself.
Skins
(Main Hall ceiling, Annex Room)
The series Skins is centered around collages made from extracts of historical botanical boards and atlases on skin diseases. Fantasy creatures are created by combining illustrations of disease symptoms, drawings of inner organs, but also representations of animals. Not least of all, the sicknesses refer to European colonization, where the Europeans brought diseases with them into the colonies killing hundreds of thousands of indigenous inhabitants. A sculpture carrying a bouquet of psychedelic plants casts a shadow on the collages hanging on the wall. It is a reference to a time of colonial expansion, in which ecstatic altered states of mind were banned in European society. The ceiling of the main hall is covered in a textile pattern, the space left free is the shape of a human skin, defining the exhibition space.
Looters
(Main Hall)
The paper-maché figures wear camouflage pants, vintage sweaters, hoodies, or face masks, and by doing so they are being true to their name. They steal and present themselves as militant. Some of them could not care less about bourgeois etiquette as shown by their obscene gestures. The protest against the capitalist system led to a radicalization in the case of these looters. The question is raised, who decides who can consume, and who can’t? Who has the right to judge the poor? Who steals from whom, and who can afford to live within the limits of the law.
Biography
Ines Doujak, born in Klagenfurt in 1959, is a graduate of the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in Vienna. In addition to the fashion industry, the artist examines in her conceptual work stereotypes in the fields of gender roles and racism.
Solo exhibitions (selection)
2017 / Masterless Voices, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, Krakow2016 / Not Dressed for Conquering, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
2015 / Not Dressed for Conquering, Johann Jacobs Museum Zurich
2007 / Ines Doujak, Galerie Krobath, Vienna
2005 / Dirty Old Women, Salzburger Kunstverein
2002 / Father Ass, Vienna Secession
Group exhibitions (selection)
2018 / 4th Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh2017 / The Conundrum of Imagination. On the Paradigm of Exploration and Discovery, Leopold Museum, Vienna
Stealing from the West, Academy of the Arts of the World, Cologne
2016 / Peace-Treaty, San Sebastian (Cultural City of Art)
Sans peau / No Skin, SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, Montreal, QC
2015 / School of Kiev, Kiev-Biennale
All Men Become Sisters, Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz
Die Bestie und ist der Souverän, MACBA (Museu d’Art Contemporani Barcelona), Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
wow! Woven? Entering the (sub)Textiles, Künstlerhaus. Halle für Kunst und Medien, Graz
Share – Too Much History, More Future, Museum ofContemporary Art Banja Luka
2014 / Ejemplos a seguir! Expediciones en estética y sostenibilidad, Museo Metropolitano de Lima, Lima
Utopian Pulse – Flares in the Darkroom, Vienna Secession
31ª São Paulo Biennale
Exampels to follow!, Zollverein, EssenTen Million Rooms of Yearning Sex in Hong Kong, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong
2013 / 54th October Salon. No one belongs here more than you, Belgrade Cultural Center,Belgrade
Acts of Voicing, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
2012 / re.act.feminism #2. A Performing Archive: Fundación Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona; Museet for Samtidskunst, Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic, Zagreb
Acts of Voicing, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
Busan Biennale 2012, Busan, South Korea
Reflecting Fashion, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, MUMOK, Wien
2010 / Principio Potosí (Das Potosi-Prinzip): Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Museo Nacional de Arte La Paz, Bolivien
Trienale Linz 1.0, Contemporary Art in Austria, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
2008 / Peripheral Vision and Collective Body, MUSEION, Bozen
2007 / documenta 12, Kassel
2004 / Be What You Want, But Stay Where You Are, Witte de With, Rotterdam
Die Regierung. Paradiesische Handlungsräume, Vienna Secession
2003 / How do we want to be governed?, MACBA (Museu d’Art Contemporani Barcelona)
Being in the World, Miami Art Central, Miami
2000 / Things we don't understand, Generali Foundation, Vienna
Erlauf Remembers…, Erlauf
Austrian Science Fund
Doujakreceived two research grants from the Austrian Science Fund Loomshuttles / Warpaths (2010-2014), an extensive study of textiles to investigate their global history characterized by cultural, class, and gender conflict ; and Utopian Pulse: Flares in the Darkroom (together with Oliver Ressler 2013 -2015) which resulted in an exhibition in the Secession, Vienna (2014) and a publication (Pluto Press, London).
PROGRAM
EVENTS
BLUE PRINT WORKSHOP DEVIL'S FOOD
Sunday, 29 April, 10 am – 4 pm
Ban unique patterns in blue print on fabric. Get to know the blue dyeing of fabrics with the Zeugfärberei Gutau and try it yourself. The workshop also includes the lecture Devil's Food.
Costs: € 30 (including admission fee), max. 15 participants, registration at , T 0732 7070 3601, at the latest one week before the appointment.
LECTURE DEVIL’S FOOD
Sunday, 29 April, 2 pm
Ines Doujak and John Barker will give a lecture on the cultural background and history of the color Indigo, in German and English.
open to the public, free admission for lecture-visitors (admission fee for the exhibitions not included), no registration required
Guided Tours
PUBLIC GUIDED TOUR
every Thursday, 7 pm
duration 1 hour, costs € 3, exclusive admission, german only
additional Dates:
Sun 4 & 11 February, 4 pm
Tue 6 & 13 February, 4 pm
GUIDED TOUR WITH THE CURATOR
Thursday 22 February, 7 pm
with Hemma Schmutz, german only
FLASHLIGHT GUIDED TOUR
3 February, at 4 pm
in english, duration 30 Min, € 2, no admission fee
GUIDED TOUR FOR DEAF MUSEUM VISITORS
Saturday 5 May, 4 pm
with sign language interpreter
admission and guided tour free for deafs
PRESS IMAGES
Press Images are available for download at
Free use of press images only in conjunction with the relevant exhibition.
/ exhibition viewMasterless Voices, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Krakow, 2017, photo: Studio FilmLOVE
/ Ines Doujak, from the seriesSkins, 2017
/ Ines Doujak, from the seriesSkins (draft), 2016
/ Ines Doujak, Untiteld, 2013
/ Ines Doujak, Transport, fabric design (detail), 2014
/ Ines Doujak, Looter, exhibition viewStealing from the West, Academy of the Arts of the World, Cologne, 2017
/ Ines Doujak, John Barker
The Devil Opens a Nightschool,
2015, video still
/ Ines Doujak, John Barker,
A Mask is Always Active, 2014, video still
/ exhibition view Masterless Voices, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Krakow, 2017, photo: Studio FilmLOVE
/ exhibition view Ines Doujak. Sale, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, 2017
photo: maschekS.
/
exhibition view Ines Doujak. Sale, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, 2017
photo: maschekS.
/ exhibition view Ines Doujak. Sale, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, 2017
photo: maschekS.
/ exhibition view Ines Doujak. Sale, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, 2017
photo: maschekS.
/ exhibition view Ines Doujak. Sale, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, 2017
photo: maschekS.
/ exhibition view Ines Doujak. Sale, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, 2017
photo: maschekS.
Exhibition TitleINES DOUJAK. SALE
Exhibition Period2 February to 21 May 2018
OpeningThursday, 1 February, 7 pm
Press ConferenceThursday, 1 February, 10 am
Exhibition VenueFoyer, Stairwell, Main Hall
CuratorHemma Schmutz
Exhibitsfabrics, cuts, clothes, accessories, texts, texts, objects, videos
PublicationThe exhibition is accompanied by the publicationsWarpaths. An Eccentric Archive 2010–2018(price: € 39) with texts by Ines Doujak and John Barker published by Spector Books and the fashion magazine SALE. In English Language. In cooperation with the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart.
All publications can be purchased in the LENTOS Shop or at lentos.at/shop
Exhibition ArchitectureMateusz Okonski
Opening HoursTue–Sun 10 am to 6 pm, Thur 10 am to 9 pm, Mon closed (except 2.4. und 21.5.2018)
Open on public holiday 1.4., 1.5., 10.5. and 20.5.2018
Admission€ 8, concessions € 6
Press ContactClarissa Ujvari
Tel. +43(0)732/7070-3603
Ernst-Koref-Promenade 1
4020 Linz
Web & Social Medialentos.at
facebook.com/lentoslinz
twitter.com/lentoslinz
instagram.com/lentoslinz
#lentosdoujak
1