If the future isn’t bright, at least it’s colourful
Murielle Victorine Scherre
An ominous title for a seemingly obscure project? On closer inspection, the handmade quilt questions the structures that are in need of change and at the same time nurtures the perspective on what is possible. The snuggie is a patchwork of composite possibilities and brings together parties who otherwise threaten to work side by side: the fashion industry producing too fast, the invisible hand from social employment and the rescuing recycling industry. The first as a polluting short-sighted mass industry that idolises their consumers and oppresses and exploits their creators, a recycling industry that helps where the first creators have no eye for a circular economy. There is certainly room for improvement.
This quilt is an invitation. In the warmth of a blanket you can dream away at everything this blanket effortlessly achieves. The quilt prevents discarded band shirts from ending up in landfill. These are collected by you, the music-loving wearer and by the diligent hands of the recycling centres. The clothing is taken apart and put together again in its new form by Bewel vzw, with a unique diligence that does not always have a place in the classical labour market. Z33 shows the blanket in a different light. A light in darkness. A light that raises questions. A light that shows the way. What if we broaden our horizons and start working together at the source? If we consume less, will we consume differently and if the question changes, will we change the answer?
Away from the pedantic finger, you will be playfully challenged. The quilt used to bring together the physical remnants of our lives under the diligent hands of housework. The clothing that breathes our stories took on a new meaning as a patchwork quilt. The former wearer became a maker and alchemist again, turning waste into gold. Provided a small guide, a studio like Bewel can create order in the chaos of collected clothing. They unravel the jumble of different sizes and prints and introduce a new structure.
A handful of people thinking together can make an industry falter with thousands of people making together. Just as soldiers march over a bridge, kadans set the chaos in motion. The seductive tones of our favourite music and the cosiness of a warm blanket. Who would have thought that the revolution could feel so comfortable?
If the future doesn’t seem rosy, at least in this case it is hopeful.
The title refers to a song by Einstürzende Neubauten, YOUME & MEYOU. The abundant use of hardcore band shirts shows the urgency of the threatening situation. The apocalypse seems closer than expected. Patches of print fight for our attention, and rightly so. The zombies, purgatory, the steaming scenario of doom seem to have become tangible in the amorphous form of the thick blanket. The fragile human form is weighed down by the weight of its self-modelled past. The future stripped of oxygen. The textile sector is heading for a grinding halt if we do not intervene with an urgent hand. Like here and now. The true warmth of the blanket is inside. Busy-ness as usual doesn’t have to be as usual as before. We have options and even minor interventions such as recycling can make a world of difference. YOUME & MEYOU and a blanket.
See what happens.
