In the months of May and June, Maastricht is buzzing with anticipation and excitement amongst the students of the city: Like every year, exams are coming up and every student has to prove him or herself through a thesis, exam or project. For the students at the ABKM, the art academy in Maastricht, an exam consists of a final work wherein the experience and knowledge of the past four years is collected. The end of spring is an exciting time for the ABKM’ers and we took the chance to record it.
Graduating from your studies is seen as the proof you’re ready for a life in the professional world. If you’re lucky, there are plenty of jobs in your field, and lots of companies that want to hire you. When graduating as an artist, finding a steady income after your education is often a bit more problematic. Suddenly, you are independent, and the art sphere expects you to present yourself to the world and your peers. Whereas before you were supposed to create based on assignments and in the relative protection of the academy walls, now you must figure it out all by yourself.
The four almost-graduates from the fashion department at the ABKM are facing those same problems. We decided to record their journey starting at their preparations to graduate, during graduation itself and a couple of months after the ceremony. That’s three videos in total, over the course of several months. Its interesting to see the process you go through as a student: Stress to finish everything on time, wonder and anxiety for what comes next, and enthusiasm or frustration for finding or not finding work. This time the group involves four young women: Runa Brueckner (27), Klarissa Theben (23), Anna Gregor (26) and Julia Kaskin (25). They studied at the ABKM for the past four years and like many students in this city, all four originally come from Germany. Their style, backgrounds and motivations are diverse; something that is clearly expressed in their collections. The final collections are for some a personal journey, but for all four this is the ultimate test.
The collection of Runa is based on the Principle of Duality: a research into what it is that makes some garments for females and others for males. She combines sturdy fabrics from for example work-wear with women’s lingerie of the 50s. Designing the pieces is a personal test of feminine identity too, because she uses different hues of pink though she absolutely hates the colour herself.
For Julia the pieces function as a personal-exploration in the past of her ancestors. A picture taken in her youth in Kazakhstan triggered curiosity towards the lifestyle of farmers like her parents that lived in small villages in the Soviet. Her realisation that these farmers were the main ingredients of Russia’s Red Army, resulted in a men’s collection that mixes peasant traditions with military designs.
The project of Anna is inspired by a text of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. He compares the behaviour of the porcupine to the behaviour of society itself. The idea of self-protection (like the porcupine) resulted in a series of clothes with many protective layers deforming the shape of the body transforming it into new impressive shapes.
Klarissa’s inspiration for a men’s collection came from her favourite children book ‘Something Else’ fused with Tim Burton’s comic-like creations. The story of Something Else is about a little monster begging to become accepted by common society. She then re-interpreted the book with illustrations inspired by the filmmaker. Its backgrounds, colours and lines form the basis for Klarissa’s pieces.
With this collection, each student will present themselves as a professional fashion designer towards their teachers. But, do they feel ready for a professional live? What are their expectations and hopes for the future? What do they plan to do after they graduate? Will they finish it all on time? These and questions and more are what we asked them during our interview. Young filmmaker Ivo Klokman recorded it and made the short documentary that serves as part 1 in the series Fashion in the Works. Enjoy!
Video Part I: Fashion in the works
Be sure to look at the websites of Anna http://annakeepdistance.tumblr.com/, Julia, http://jul-ka.com/, and Klarissa, http://klarissatheben.tumblr.com/
In the months of May and June, Maastricht is buzzing with anticipation and excitement amongst the students of the city: Like every year, exams are coming up and every student has to prove him or herself through a thesis, exam or project. For the students at the ABKM, the art academy in Maastricht, an exam consists of a final work wherein the experience and knowledge of the past four years is collected. The end of spring is an exciting time for the ABKM’ers and we took the chance to record it.
Graduating from your studies is seen as the proof you’re ready for a life in the professional world. If you’re lucky, there are plenty of jobs in your field, and lots of companies that want to hire you. When graduating as an artist, finding a steady income after your education is often a bit more problematic. Suddenly, you are independent, and the art sphere expects you to present yourself to the world and your peers. Whereas before you were supposed to create based on assignments and in the relative protection of the academy walls, now you must figure it out all by yourself.
The four almost-graduates from the fashion department at the ABKM are facing those same problems. We decided to record their journey starting at their preparations to graduate, during graduation itself and a couple of months after the ceremony. That’s three videos in total, over the course of several months. Its interesting to see the process you go through as a student: Stress to finish everything on time, wonder and anxiety for what comes next, and enthusiasm or frustration for finding or not finding work. This time the group involves four young women: Runa Brueckner (27), Klarissa Theben (23), Anna Gregor (26) and Julia Kaskin (25). They studied at the ABKM for the past four years and like many students in this city, all four originally come from Germany. Their style, backgrounds and motivations are diverse; something that is clearly expressed in their collections. The final collections are for some a personal journey, but for all four this is the ultimate test.
The collection of Runa is based on the Principle of Duality: a research into what it is that makes some garments for females and others for males. She combines sturdy fabrics from for example work-wear with women’s lingerie of the 50s. Designing the pieces is a personal test of feminine identity too, because she uses different hues of pink though she absolutely hates the colour herself.
For Julia the pieces function as a personal-exploration in the past of her ancestors. A picture taken in her youth in Kazakhstan triggered curiosity towards the lifestyle of farmers like her parents that lived in small villages in the Soviet. Her realisation that these farmers were the main ingredients of Russia’s Red Army, resulted in a men’s collection that mixes peasant traditions with military designs.
The project of Anna is inspired by a text of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. He compares the behaviour of the porcupine to the behaviour of society itself. The idea of self-protection (like the porcupine) resulted in a series of clothes with many protective layers deforming the shape of the body transforming it into new impressive shapes.
Klarissa’s inspiration for a men’s collection came from her favourite children book ‘Something Else’ fused with Tim Burton’s comic-like creations. The story of Something Else is about a little monster begging to become accepted by common society. She then re-interpreted the book with illustrations inspired by the filmmaker. Its backgrounds, colours and lines form the basis for Klarissa’s pieces.
With this collection, each student will present themselves as a professional fashion designer towards their teachers. But, do they feel ready for a professional live? What are their expectations and hopes for the future? What do they plan to do after they graduate? Will they finish it all on time? These and questions and more are what we asked them during our interview. Young filmmaker Ivo Klokman recorded it and made the short documentary that serves as part 1 in the series Fashion in the Works. Enjoy!
Video Part I: Fashion in the works
Be sure to look at the websites of Anna http://annakeepdistance.tumblr.com/, Julia, http://jul-ka.com/, and Klarissa, http://klarissatheben.tumblr.com/
