2013 0015 axel lieber: private architecture
july 14 — august 31, 2013
viewable 24 hours
The installation Private Architecture features three bodily structures facing each other. Each figure is sculpted from a single piece of clothing — a generic grey hoodie — which has been dissected and remodeled to trace the figure of a human body, as well as suggesting basic concepts of architecture: the principles of a load-bearing construction, column and beam. The thin skeletons of white drawstrings connecting the “pointed vault” of the hood to the “fundament” of the shoes are weighted by stuffed pockets. Hanging in the seam from the hoodie, they work as "plumb bobs" that emphasize the verticality of die raum with reference to gothic architecture, and as a masculine feature pointing to brotherhood or male bonding.
Private Architecture is the title of a whole series of work by Axel Lieber, which deals with clothing and fashion from a structural perspective. Lieber playfully transforms everyday objects by stripping them down to their essential components as well as playing with their scale or complete absence. The hoodie is a heavily loaded and politically stigmatized symbol of street and gang culture, with the unique ability to offer anonymity as well as a sense of belonging. Here, these sensibilities have been reduced to the hoodie's main features: the hood, the muff pocket, and white drawstring to form an individual, “a hoodie”, as a comment on social codes and fashion as a structural component.
