Hi everybody, Mrs. Blogger here. I have had my role as IT consultant, proof reader, navigator, chief cook and bottle washer temporarily upgraded and been allowed to contribute an entry all of my own (instead of just being confined to the odd phrase in italics.) The reason for this is so that I can wax lyrical about Nelson's WoW museum; the wearable art exhibition that is now famous worldwide. If you're not into textiles, recycling or anything arty from New Zealand, I'm afraid you'd better log out now and await the next entry from the blogmeister, otherwise I shall bore the socks off you.
First of all, the exhibition itself, for those who don't know about it, was started way back in the 80's, by some enterprising folk who thought others might be interested in what the locals could conjure up from nothing – and wear it. This is the whole point of the thing; the costume can be made of anything but has to be wearable. The results of this were presented as a catwalk show (or runway, as I think it's called now) in the autumn each year and, just like Topsy, grew and grew. The permanent exhibition was set up to showcase the current year's winners and a few others.
Themes and categories are defined, large companies provide sponsorship (Air New Zealand for one) and the stage is set. I should have been in seventh heaven if we had been here in September, so I could see the whole shebang but the exhibition did give a you a feel for the thing. It's a much smaller show than I expected; one large room and a couple of smaller ones + an audio visual room showing the current year's video presentation. However, it packs a lot in and is very thought provoking.
The first costume I saw had been constructed entirely from bailer twine, (for those of you from non-agricultural areas, this is large, coloured plastic string) picture hooks and curtain rings. It is a sort of bikini top, skirt and shoes and it works perfectly. It doesn't look strange or weird at all and is a triumph of ingenuity. There are a few more in the same vein in the first room but then when you enter the large gallery, you understand the WoW factor!
The room has several static exhibits, all of which were amazing (I loved one entitled Dragon Fish, which swooped from the ceiling) http://www.textiles.org.nz/susanholmes/wearableart/13/13_06.html
and a small area where various mannequins are placed on a turntable to give you a view from every angle. Greek myths and legends seem to feature a lot in the static dsplays.
But the highlight is the 'mock runway”, where larger than life mannequins are suspended from a ceiling track and moved along in an ever-changing display in front of you. There were all sorts here from Bizarre Bras (Carmen Miranda, hummingbirds) to the downright unexplainable (Encounter with Gugenheim – stainless steel bands.) Amongst this section were 3 exhibits entitled Water, Earth and Sky, all of which had been knitted, felted or crocheted. The felting came in the form of soft felt “pebbles”, all joined to make a floor length coat, incredibly impressive. Freeform crochet and machine knitting featured on the others. These were probably the most conventionally wearable garments in the whole exhibition. Two Kiwi ladies approached me and asked my opinion on which garment I thought represented which element and we debated it for several minutes, not being able to decide at all.
The turntable display was all about the circus and was quite surreal and not a little sinister, especially as the room is in semi-darkness. Lots of bright colours but rather creepy interpretations had me mesmerised, thinking about the theme and the thoughts behind the entries.
There was lots of humour too. One exhibit entitled A Right Charlie had an unmistakeable head of HRH of the same name and was meant to portray (tongue-in-cheek) the idea that we all make a mess of things now and again.
I found the third room very badly lit and the exhibits made no sense and were not explained so I moved on to watch the video presentation of last September's show, which was highly professional and very exciting. Had I been present at the actual event, I would have certainly wanted this video as a memento. And that brings me to a small final gripe; that the merchandise on sale did not really live up to the exhibition itself, something that seems very common at exhibitions.
The whole thing was brilliant and I am so glad I saw it. When you think the exhibits had been constructed from such items as recycled plastic bottles and the plastic stays from shirt collars (12,000 of them!) and you would never have known (had it not been on the listings), then you can see why this is so popular. Entries come from all over the world. And every single one was wearable. I wish I could have shown you pictures but of course, no photography was allowed and I respect this; design theft is now a common issue.
Alongside this museum was an exhibition of classic cars and Bert found Dell-Boy Trotter's Reliant Robin there,
along with the DeLorean from Back to the Future and the minis from The Italian Job. One of the rings from The Lord of the Rings films was also on display – the ringmaker is based in Nelson and made numerous rings for the film trilogy.
So, I must return to my humble role(s) now and wish you all farewell. Hope you've enjoyed this look at a bit of contemporary culture; I think it was breathtaking – just like most of NZ actually.....
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