SHOEting Stars. Shoes in Art and Design
The topic of “shoes“ opens up an entire cosmos of stories, personal experiences and preconceptions. Shoes symbolise passion, fetish, sensuality, and the search for perfection. They represent trivial needs and at the same time are an attractive medium for artistic exploration. The subject of this exhibition is the contemplation of shoes not only as transient fashion projects but as design objects that make their own autonomous statements.
Most of the approximately 220 experimental shoe creations by designers, artists and architects are one of a kind or have been produced only in small series. Many have been devised as small sculptures, as conceptual statements, or as provocations against the main stream. These SHOEting Stars are distinguished by their unusual forms, exclusive materials and “emotional added value” – often to the detriment of their actual wearability.
The thematic grouping of the exhibited works underscores the blurring of boundaries between art, design and handicrafts. The spectrum ranges from an architectonic approach through experiments with materials to the shoe as a fetish object. The manifold possibilities inherent in shoes as a creative medium are reflected not only in the shoes themselves but also in installations, photographs and videos, and include the positions of several Austrian artists and designers.
An exhibition by KUNST HAUS WIEN in cooperation with the
GRASSI Museum of Applied Art Leipzig
Idea and concept: Sabine Epple
Curator in Vienna: Brigitte Woischnik
Co-Curator in Vienna: Liza Snook, www.VirtualShoeMuseum.com
The Artists
Jacqueline de Abrew, ainsley-t (Stuart Thom), Mihai Albu, Sol Alonso, Irene Andessner, Amber Ambrose Aurèle, Ona B., Shani Bar, Riëlle Beekmans, René van den Berg, Marloes ten Bhömer, BLESS (Desiree Heiss & Ines Kaag), Janine van den Bosch, Guy Bourdin, May Y. Cheung Hoffman, Aki Choklat, David Collart, Suhandan Ozay Demirkan, Esther Dorhout Mees, Hester van Eeghen, Mariana Fantich & Dominic Young, Alexander und Christian Fielden, FINSK (Julia Lundsten), Friederike Gahrmann, Simon Grønlund, Zaha Hadid for Melissa und United Nude, Julian Hakes, Benjamin John Hall, Titia Hantzen Keuning, Kathrine Henneberg, Iris van Herpen for United Nude, Naomi Hertz, Bart Hess, Ivo Hofsté, Carolin Holzhuber, House of Ska (Ivanka Ska), Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Marita Huurinainen, (IN)DECOROUS Taste (Lauren Tennenbaum), INSA (Joe Insa) & Ruth Shaw, Peter Jakubik, Jan Jansen, Karin Janssen, Lauren Johnstone, Naim Josefi, Nici Jost, Birgit Jürgenssen, Kei Kagami, Kaarina Kaikkonen, Gudrun Kampl, Aleksandra Kielpinska, Kenneth Kirschner, Rachel de Kler, Dora Kloppenburg, Robert A.J. Koets, Rem D Koolhaas for United Nude, Anne Kroman, Jochen Kronier, Masaya Kushino, Janne Kyttanen, Chau Har Lee, Umberto Leon & Carol Lim for KENZO, Kobi Levi, LEW (Kim Leemans & Merel Wicker), Pinelopi Loizidou, Sahil Lungani, Eelko Moorer, Kunihiko Morinaga for ANREALAGE, Mette Mousten Søgaard, Toru Nagahama, Nat-2 (Sebastian Thies), Krista van der Niet, Sara Sofie Nørbo, Trine Ostenfeldt Møller, C.O. Paeffgen, Lola Pagola, Solène Panne, Minna Parikka, Caro Peirs, Omar Angel Perez, Tea Petrovic, Peter Popps, Remigijus & Egidijus Praspaliauskas, Marieka Ratsma, Maurice Regnaut, Pablo Reinoso, Roswitha van Rijn, Svenja Ritter, Rosa Mosa (Simone Springer & Yuji Mizobuchi), Florian Rutter, Safa Şahin, Ajoy Sahu, Elena Savchenko, Iris Schieferstein, Jeremy Scott for Adidas, Jurjen Semeijn, Deborah Sengl, SHOISE (Petra Högström & Matilda Maroti), Conny Smulders, Line Marie Sørensen, Liesel Swart, Gianluca Tamburini for Conspiracy, Giulia Tanini, Bruno Tansens, Aydin Teker, Yukiko Terada, Deniz Terli, Kermit Tesoro, Elisabeth Thorsen, Gaspard Tiné-Berès, Tetsuya Uenobe, Federico Uribe, Jozefien Vandermarliere, Anna Vasof, Joyce Verhagen, Viktor & Rolf for H&M, Hester Vlamings, Isabel Vollrath, Rhonda Voo, Leanie van der Vyver, Julius Welby, Lie van der Werff, Matthias Winkler, Souzan Youssouf, Erwina Ziomkowska, Barbara Zucchi