PORTAL
Site-specific installation for State of Fashion 2018

With PORTAL, researcher and artist Elisa van Joolen (1983) investigates the emotional, social and economic value of clothing worn by visitors of State of Fashion 2018 in a room-filling installation. During the first two days of the exhibition (1-2 June 2018), visitors are asked to take off a garment, make an outline of it and answer a number of questions regarding the production, ownership, value and materiality of their clothes.

‘‘In this time of scarcity of raw materials and labour issues in the clothing industry it is untenable that so much material is wasted,’’ states Van Joolen. ‘‘I therefore see the need to develop innovative concepts of reuse and awareness in fashion. The goal of PORTAL is to unravel the layers of value production and meaning in fashion. I do not make new clothes, I map existing clothing, together with the visitor; the consumer. I believe that consumer awareness, how consumers connect to and engage with their clothing (or other products) and what values they ascribe to it, should be central in striving towards a fairer, more resilient fashion system.’’

During the research days, as much data as possible will be collected. The collected data serves as a starting point to analyse the interrelationships between the mapped pieces of clothing.

The final results are presented during a roundtable discussion. And shown in a publication, PORTAL 002, made especially for State of Fashion 2018.

Elisa van Joolen wants to thank Anouk Beckers, Beau Bertens, Marina Sasseron de Oliveira Cabral and all assistants that helped during the PORTAL research days.

With special thanks to INNOSELL BV for supporting the installation with the Tyvek material.