When I was appointed Artistic Director of the Centre of Contemporary Art in Torun in 2010, I proposed a programme that aimed to coherently address themes such as interdisciplinary research, environmental awareness, art and science, and similar topics, with the goal of giving this new institution a clear programmatic identity.

Some exhibitions were organised as part of a larger thematic whole. 
The “Spaceship Earth” opened an area that I called “Expanding Art’s Boundaries”. 
Within this section, an exhibition titled “The Fourth State Of Water: From Micro To Macro” was curated by Victoria Vesna, featuring artists, scientists, and activists who work around the theme of water [https://artsci.ucla.edu/events/4th-state-water-micro-macro].
The following one was “Wonderingmode,” which I curated, possibly as a first in a series of meetings designed to bring together curators, creatives, and other players in the experimental fashion field. 
This first edition remained the only one, but it was nonetheless rich in content. 
During the setup of the exhibition, we organised talks and presentations in which Tomoko Hayashi, Kim Hagelind and Minna Palmqvist took part. 
For the European Night of Museums, we organised a symposium and public programme divided into two sessions. One was called “Fashion: Show & Display”, focusing on fashion curation practices with Kaat Debo and Helena Hertov. The other was entitled “Expanding Fashion’s Boundaries” and involved Stefan Siegel, Marcin Różyc, Bogomir Doringer, and KRJST (Justine de Moriamé & Erika Schillebeeckx), stressing the possibilities and spaces for emerging creatives interested in experimental forms of fashion making. 
The exhibition's catalogue was also designed as a sort of “reader” in which I re-edited and republished interviews with fashion curators that I was conducting for Cura magazine. 

When I began working on this project, I realised that none of the relevant local museums dedicated attention to fashion and fashion-related research. It can be considered a first exhibition of this kind in a contemporary art institution in Poland. 

It was very rewording to receive an award for the best exhibition of the year from Marcin Szczelina and his Architecture Snob [https://archisnob.com/] magazine.

2013

WONDERINGMODE EXHIBITION

“Wonderingmode” is a hybrid term that encompasses a variety of potential meanings of the words “wonder” / “wondering” (such as marvel, sensation, spectacle, curiosity, awe, fascination, surprise, amazement, search) and of the word “mode,” which, in this context, alludes to fashion, style, and look, but also to the manner, approach, process, or practice. 
That’s why “Wonderingmode” seems like a suitable term to use in the context of the exhibition dedicated to those creative paths that tend to push fashion beyond its conventional boundaries and connect it with art, architecture, or design. 
“Wonderingmode” relates to the show, but for me its meaning is much broader: it is a synonym for a state of mind, for the condition of a wanderer who moves freely, guided by curiosity, by the urge to discover, by the wish to take the road not yet travelled, accepting any direction in which that road might lead. That’s why this exhibition is only one (and hopefully not the final) stop on this journey; it is just one phase of a broader exploration into a type of fashion that goes beyond clothes and the imperative of wearability, favouring the creation of objects and concepts hybrid by nature—generated through crossbreeding and the intersection of different domains of knowledge and processes. 
In fact, when observing Ana Rajčević’s collection of masks and jewels, “Animal: The Other Side of Evolution”, or wearable sculptures created by Hussein Chalayan, Iris van Herpen, Daniel Widrig, or Marloes ten Bhömer, we are struck by a sense of wonder and awe. 
We wonder if what we see is a blend of fashion, art, architecture, or perhaps an osmosis of their visual elements. Or maybe it is a challenge to question the boundaries of classification, as these creations tend to blur the lines between organic and synthetic, between the body and its surroundings, reshaping what is considered “natural”. 
With their geometric, archaic, or science-fiction forms, garments and accessories from recent collections by Iris van Herpen, Yuima Nakazato, Emilia Tikka, Mina Lundgren, Kim Hagelind, and Ana Rajčević reshape the body, evoking the same sense of marvel and aesthetic shock that African masks and sculptures likely inspired in Cubists, Dadaists, or Surrealists a century ago. More than mere garments, their creations are masks and costumes fit for icons of transformation, such as Björk or Lady Gaga. Still, they are also artefacts that invite us to explore the labyrinth of the mind, challenging us to assign them a place and meaning. These creations implicitly raise questions about fashion and its fleeting, changeable nature. 
Once again, the term “wonderingmode” reappears, this time emphasising its second part: “mode”. In English, “mode” refers to the way or manner; in French, “(la) mode” signifies fashion, and both meanings are relevant to the question posed above. Furthermore, both terms take us back to the mid-nineteenth century, when fashion emerged as a cultural and social phenomenon as we understand it today. 
Etymologically, the word “mode” (Itl. “moda”) comes from Latin “modus” (manner, way), and it is also closely associated with another word of a similar root: “modo” (now, at the moment). 
So even if the word “le mode” was used in France since the middle of the fourteenth century, only around 1845 does “la mode” appear, standing for what we use it still today: for a complex mechanism of cyclical change of style, which is rapid and ephemeral, but nonetheless very capillary and far-reaching. 
It is interesting to observe that alongside the emergence of this complex social and cultural phenomenon, the word itself, fashion (“le mode”) underwent linguistic change, acquiring a feminine article in front, thus becoming “la mode”. 
What occurs here is the shift from “the manner,” which represented something authoritative and stable, to “the fashion” (“le mode” in French or “la moda” in Italian), which becomes a symbol of frivolity, fleetingness, and capriciousness. 
Thus, the destinies of fashion and women, including all associated stereotypes, became closely intertwined, long remaining distant from the possibility of being regarded as a valuable subject for more profound philosophical or sociological reflection. 
Yet fashion, born at the same time as modernity, remains a phenomenon that cannot be excluded from a deeper cultural or social analysis of the modern era, as demonstrated by great advocates of modernism and postmodernism like Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Simmel, or Benjamin, up to Dorfles, Barthes, and other contemporary scholars. All of them recognised the psychological, social, and cultural power of fashion, and for some, even its capricious, ephemeral, and frivolous aspects held significance and charm—evident in one of the most unusual episodes where literary writing and sophisticated illustrations contributed to the “great cause” of Fashion. 
This brief but captivating episode features one of the greatest poets of the modernist era: Stéphane Mallarmé. 
In 1874, Mallarmé established “La Dernière Mode” (“The Latest Fashion”), a fashion magazine, recognised not only for its high-quality visual and literary content but also for the columns signed by Mme de Ponty, Miss Satin, Ix, Zizi, Madame Charles, and other enigmatic female pseudonyms. 
These columns, issue after issue, embark on an imaginary journey through femininity and its visual expressions. 
Not only does this episode show how writing can become a mask and costume, but each of Mallarmé’s descriptions of garments (real or imaginary) becomes a testament to the aesthetic and spiritual ideals of his era—and his own. 
For each column, Mallarmé consulted with women of Parisian society, carefully researching, collecting, and reporting the latest trends of the season. He also let his imagination drift beneath the veils of his fictional female personas, offering a unique perspective that elevates fashion beyond superficiality. 
It enables us to discern signs that help us understand reality and its aesthetic paradigms more profoundly. 
This story makes me think that fashion should now incorporate its “mail” part too, becoming again “the manner” which seeks to slip away from the consuming and self-absorbing rhythm of the fashion system and industry. 
It can become a “manner” or a “way” towards alternative models of creating clothes, styles, and trends through the subversion and disobedience to the diktats of consumerism and uniform aesthetics. 
In fact, younger generations of designers interpret fashion as “the way” to propose different temporal and aesthetic paradigms, critically approaching seasonal turnovers and standardised beauty models. 
Swedish designer Minna Palmqvist has been developing the collection “Intimately Social” over several years, periodically introducing new sets of designs while remaining true to the core concept and title. “Intimately Social” thus becomes a collection that develops independently of seasonal trends, and more importantly, independent of the obsession with the “perfect” body. It emphasises the “intimate” body—fluid and transient—serving as the foundation for garments that act as statements against the long-standing ideal of a statuesque female form. She blends and merges the “intimate” with the so-called “social” or representative body, creating not only innovative garment effects but also producing work rooted in a productive and conceptual approach similar to artistic practices. 
Similarly, Tomoko Hayashi uses body fluids not symbolically; instead, she employs them in a tangible way: for her, human tears become material from which jewellery is crafted. For her work “Tear Mirror - Jewel,” she revived the traditional Japanese technique of candy-making—casting emulsion of sugar, liquid, and colour into flawlessly cut diamond shapes—resulting in remarkably clear, crystal-like pearls displayed as jewels alongside stories from those who shared their emotions and tears. These candy diamonds offer a new way of discussing preciousness, far removed from conventional materialistic connotations. It’s the preciousness of emotions and human connection that this work highlights, subverting the typical association of adornment with the superficial or superficial realm. 
These are just some examples of how an analytical and auto-reflexive attitude towards the concept of fashion can become inherent to a designer’s creative process. 
This approach was initially introduced by Hussein Chalayan, who was among the first to imbue fashion with content that extends beyond mere appearance—creating garments and artworks that reflect the identity and condition of the modern nomadic individual, who exists in a constant state of shifting between different cultural codes. 
Therefore, “Wonderingmode” is like a path that encourages us to wonder and even lose ourselves in the enchanting world of hybrid objects and transdisciplinary creative processes. 
At the same time, it aims to point towards a way (or approach) to reflect on fashion—not merely as a carrier of fleeting changes, but as a system of signs that constantly seeks to redefine itself. 

Published in the catalogue of the exhibition “Wonderingmode” curated by Dobrila Denegri
15 March – 26 May 2013, Centre of Contemporary Art in Torun, Poland

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