9 August 2022

3rd exhibition of the MAK '(Con)temporary Fashion Showcase'-series explores interdependencies between Europe and Africa with art and fashion by Jojo Gronostay (3 September - 4 December)

Vienna-based artist and designer Jojo Gronostay (born 1988, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris) received last year the Fashion Prize of the City of Vienna (article) and counts to the most requested artists-designers when it comes to the artistic visualization of the relations between Europe and Africa. Jojo Gronostay focuses in his work on colonialism, identity and its representation, economic cycles as well as political and economic interdependencies between the continents. Gronostay's works are collected by museums like the mumok Wien or the Museum der Moderne Salzburg.

Now, the MAK Museum of Applied Arts Vienna announced details about the upcoming 3rd exhibition of the '(Con)temporary Fashion Showcase'-series at the museum's branch Geymüllerschlössel with an introduction to the street style phenomenon 'sapeur' in Brazzaville, where the style was developed in the early 20th century, and in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sapeurs are dandy-like dressed men who invest a lot of money in relation to their available budget into their outfits. Jojo Gronostay presents the style of the sapeurs with the 5-screen video installation 'Magic Cannot Cross The Sea' showing footage that was filmed in 2022 in Brazzaville. The films are overlaid with pictures from costume collections of museums like the V&A Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, or the MAK Museum in Vienna. The installation visualizes the Eurocentric understanding of fashion with which costume collections of classic arts and crafts museums were created.

On the day of the opening on 3 September, visitors will get a chance to experience the exhibition through a dance performance by dancer, choreographer Camilla Schielin whose work often deals with the ghostly return and persistence of the past. The dancer will be dressed in fashion from Jojo Gronostay's label DWMC (Dead White Men's Clothes).

Image: Jojo Gronostay, still from the video installation 'Magic Cannot Cross The Sea', 2022. Photo: © Jojo Gronostay.