Don’t Feed the Monster

Workshop documentation PORTAL MOSS, Galleri F 15, Moss 2019. Photo: Elisa van Joolen Courtesy of the artist © Elisa van Joolen.

Don’t feed the monster! is an exhibition at Galleri F 15, in Norway, asking critical questions about the impact of the fashion industry on the environment. The exhibition opens a multi-faceted examination of this topic through the work of twelve designers and artists, who share their ideas, methods and stories. It is open until January 2020.

The textile and fashion industry is one of the world’s largest and globally one of the most polluting. The industry, and especially fast fashion, drives steadily increasing consumption at a time when the need to reduce our impact on the environment is critical.

In their introduction to the exhibition, the curators, Maria C. Havstam and Franz P. Schmidt say: “The climate crisis is acute, but when it comes to the consumption of fashion, we are heading in the wrong direction. We close our eyes and keep buying cheaper and in greater quantities.”

The exhibition looks at overproduction, the vast distances that garments travel, unethical labour practises and consumer attitudes. It asks, how do we address this? Who should take responsibility? Is the industry neither willing nor able to limit volumes, increase the quality of clothes and radically improve human dignity for all employees in the industry? Are consumers able to think differently when it comes to the social and practical meaning of fashion? Is the only solution to stop producing textiles and clothing industrially? If so, how should that take place? And what would the consequences be?

Celia Pym, Norwegian Sweater, 2010. Photo: Michele Panzeri. Courtesy of the artist © Michele Panzeri/Celia Pym.

Celia Pym, You can’t always be a beginner, knitted wool and darning, 106 x 142cm, 2014. Courtesy of celiapym.com

The invited contributions showcase different attitudes to the problem, through narratives about the industry’s production of myths, its impact on the environment and how our relationship with fashion has changed. This ranges from necessity to utility to fashion becoming a communication tool that emphasises identity and establishes status, affiliation and values.

Tom van Deijnen, Red Cardigan Commission. Courtesy of the artist © Tom van Deijnen.

Courtesy of the artist © Tom van Deijnen.

The exhibition provides space for designers who work on the repair and recycling of existing textiles as well as radical activist and social projects and the examination of new technological solutions.

For more information, visit www.punkto.no