2001

BELLA RUNE: “COME-ON-CLOTHES” WAS A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

“Come-On-Clothes” are jumpers and pants made of grey sweatshirt material. 
The arms have a raglan cut, and the pants have a visible elastic waistband. All clothes have unfinished raw edges. The jumpers and trousers are sewn together to create different possible social situations, from “Siamese Tripling” to “X-rated group activities”. 
The activity is designed into the clothes. Use them, and you have a performance. 
“Come-On-Clothes” is an art project by Bella Rune and Jelena Rundqvist that was created for an all-night art event in Stockholm.

Dobrila Denegri: You mentioned that the “Come-On-Clothes” project started with the intention to realise an experiment. First thing I’d like to ask you is how you began to create them?

Bella Rune: To browse through and try on clothes is an everyday act of seduction. Clothes are totally accessible, and it is super important to people what they wear, especially at parties. “Come-On-Clothes” was a social experiment at an art event. Art parties can be pretty predictable with the same ingredients of video, electro-clash and lukewarm beer. We wanted to see if people within an art context could let go and live out, even when not totally pissed, if it was possible to alter people’s behaviour even in a situation where we all behave according to our given roles by adding a relatively simple element, like clothes.

DD: How did you decide on the positions and material?

BR: We chose a grey sweatshirt because it is a hyper-common material with a kind of skin-like quality, completely unisex. We like the sexy nouveau qualities of “Come-On-Clothes”, everyday, homey, sporty, sweet and gritty.
To find the best positions, we tried things out in the studio and at home, forcing our friends and families to help out. The basic suggested positions link people together, wearing either a pair of pants or a jumper, but of course, all the scenarios can be combined into vast social Lego super molecules.

DD: What was the reaction of the people… did they act/interact as you expected?

BR: The early adopters tried on some of the simple two-person pieces and then quickly squirmed out of them. Trying on one of the “Benny-Hill-like full-frontal hands-on-tits” pieces, the hands would make use of the grey sweatshirt materials' elasticity and stay well away from the bosom. People were shy but titillated; it was like a giggly teenage tease fest. People touched and browsed through the clothes, mapping the different structures and imagining the possibilities.
When sober, even though user-friendly, non-demanding, hyper-casual clothes, the art seemed precious. One drink later, the first “Grey Crew” started jumping around trying on different outfits and testing the drinking, groping (-” oi! watch that finger!”) and dancing abilities of the ensembles. The real come-on-clothes dance fanatics didn’t even let the sun stop their fun.

DD: How does this work address a question of interpersonal relationships?

BR: The work dissolved the Performer-audience relationship, which often creates distances. In this project, the audience is invited to be the performer, and the stage is everywhere.
“Come-On-Clothes” totally changed the whole pattern of dancing and picking up people. The later the night, the larger the human molecules, moving around in packs with people jumping in and out, some left and new would step into the empty pants.
To share an intense experience is to open up for things to happen, political and private collaborations, new ideas, new styles, babies…

DD: Would you say that experiment succeeded?

BR: It was a social experiment and an attempt to make the visitors/art consumers/audience become the performance, not by force but through seduction. At the end of the night, the only two combinations still on their hangers were the “Boring couple-holding-hands” and “Couple-attached-at-the-hip”. When theorising about the “Come-On-Clothes” experiment, we thought these would somehow be popular. Stupid, people either do or die - half-heartedly is no way to go.

DD: Are these kinds of projects common for your work?

BR: YES!

DD: How do you see the relationship between art and fashion?

BR: You could say that “Come-On-Clothes” is both an art and a fashion project. 
We are uninterested in the separation of these different disciplines; for us, there is no hierarchy; if it’s good, it’s good.