The practice of social interaction
2022-2023
Berlin: A:D:vanced practice of social interaction
ADcuratorial gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2023
Berlin became the second venue for the practice of social interaction after Lodz (Poland). As a multicultural and artistic center of Europe, it is an ideal place to continue researching the theory of NEW PRODUCTION.
BERLIN: A:D:vanced practice of social interaction was realized with the support of Fashion Revolution Germany and presented in the A:D:curatorial space
The essence of Khomenko's practice is to experiment with fabrics, which the artist performs together with a group of collaborators. Together with them, the artist examines and creates new cuts and color combinations. The aesthetics of the final objects arise spontaneously, but their implementation is based on technological precision. Khomenko has developed her own method of crushing and compressing materials, which goes beyond regular upcycling.
On 25 February 2022, i.e. the second day of the Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine, Yasia Khomenko fled from Kyiv to Ivano-Frankivsk. On her way she saw countless piles of clothes – humanitarian aid collected by locals. At the same time sharing was the only method of obtaining the most necessary things. These personal experiences and observations had a great impact on Khomenko's future work. Therefore sharing and building relationships lies in the core of her current artistic practice. She travels around the world and collaborates with the local communities. Everyone is encouraged to bring their own clothes to Yasia’s workshop, cut them and make canvases for further compression made by the art personally with her own technology.
Khomenko refers both to the relational aesthetics defined by Nicolas Bourriaud and to her own knowledge of industrial production. Based on this, she came up with a model of a new factory, where value of the things that are made is a relative concept, and their aesthetics is a result of a spontaneous, creative impulse.
The main goal of artist's practice is to develop and promote ideas which aim to change the problematic ways of production in the fashion industry. Even though XOMENKO started as a fashion brand, Yasia criticizes the industry and offers some alternative models with a social and collaborative approach.
Iryna
My name is Iryna, I am from Kyiv, Ukraine. I graduated from Kyiv National University of Technology and Design with a degree in Fashion Design. Then I entered the Academy of Arts, specializing in art history. After graduation I developed lecture programs on culture, education, art and literature. Then I worked at the Victoria Museum as a guide and lecturer, developing thematic author's excursions for children and adults.
I can describe my style as classic minimalism, but with romantic elements of the Victorian era. I also have a collection of vintage silk scarves.
What did I bring to the practice of social interaction? These are the clothes in which I left Ukraine in March after the full scale russian invasion. I didn't even take any extra things with me, just a small backpack with the most necessary things. In fact, I cannot even look at these clothes, it physically hurts me to put them on and be in them. Now they are associated only with moral pain and traumatic experience, although these things are of high quality and could serve for a long time. If I personally can make a certain transformation with these things and interact with the project and the exhibition space - for me it is better than just giving the clothes to other people. Because I wouldn't want this experience of mine to be passed on to someone through things. There are also some things from my previous life - for example, this polka dot dress I wore for Christmas in Kyiv. These black velvet pants were also very important to me, but when they arrived, I realized that I was a different person now.
I also want to tell you about other things that my relatives sent me from Kyiv after the war, and I was waiting for them, I wanted to touch them, to feel the smell of my home. But they were lost in the mail and came only three months later, and I cried when I received this parcel. They symbolize for me the bright and rich life I lived before the war, and which I do not have here. There was a dress in which I conducted a tour of the museum, for example.
Javier
My name is Javier, I'm 27 years old, originally from Madrid, Spain, and I've been living in Berlin for 3,5 years now. I work as a freelance creative director as well as a creative assistant and content maker at the Berlin Voo store. But I have been presenting my fashion art on social media for more than 8 years!
My style is very eclectic, the way I dress always reflects how I feel and also how I approach fashion. I never take myself too seriously because otherwise it loses all meaning. Fashion is a way to have fun and express myself and I play more with characters and exaggerated social roles. When I dress like a business woman I feel strong, when I am completely in black I look like a Berliner, when I am in jeans from head to toe I feel like a cowboy. But never a serious fashion icon!
The clothes I brought are part of my living history. It was very hard for me to take these things away because I am a person who always keeps clothes because they are very sentimental and emotional for me. But now I am learning to let things go, and clothes deserve a second life.
These beautiful pants are from an Italian brand that I loved very much, but I can no longer wear them because they are too small for me (however, only children are smaller than me))). This costume I bought in a vintage store, but it is too short, so my skinny body looks like an 8-year-old child in it, but I needed it then because it was part of the character I was playing. This velvet dress is from an amazing Italian queer brand that I wore several times and I made some iconic videos with this dress and it made me happy every time I wore it. But I felt that I needed to move forward to a new look, so I let it go.
Kasia+Weronika
Hi, my name is Kasia, I am a cultural manager from Berlin. I came here with my best friend from school Weronika, with whom we have been working in the cultural sphere for many years.
Since we have been living in different countries for two years now, joining the Social Engagement Practice was a great opportunity for us and we had an amazing time together. Although we have known each other for a very long time, the ritual of sharing the stories of the clothes we brought, thinking about the patterns we could create, sewing together was a very new experience for us. And it not only excited and exhausted us after it, but also gave us the opportunity to catch up in a very intimate and creative environment.
For a person born in the 80s and raised in a transforming post-communist Poland, clothes are a sign of the times. The limited possibilities of clothing in the 90s encouraged combining and reincarnation. Over time, clothes became more affordable, but the desire for uniqueness remained.
I almost never throw things away. If they are broken, I try to repair them. I have a very sentimental attitude towards things and many of them hold memories for me, both less important and more significant in my life. For this project I used items that were given to me by friends or that reminded me of good times in Wroclaw. By combining them with my best friend's things and working together with her on the fabric, I feel that I gave them new meaning and new memories.
Weronika+Kasia
Hi, my name is Weronika, I am a project manager from Wrocław.
My best friend from school Kasia, with whom we have been working in the cultural field for many years, invited me to join her in this practice of social interaction. As we have been living in different countries for two years now, it was a great opportunity for us to spend a great time together. Although we have known each other for a very long time, the ritual of sharing clothing stories that we brought, thinking about patterns we could create, sewing together was a very new shared experience for us. And not only were we excited and exhausted after it, but it also gave us space to catch up in a very intimate and creative environment.
For a person born in the 80s and raised in a transforming post-communist Poland, clothes are a sign of the times. The limited possibilities of clothing in the 90s encouraged combining and reincarnation. Over time, clothes became more affordable, but the desire for uniqueness remained.
As part of the project, I brought three things that accompanied me for several years. Due to damage, I gave them a second life.
I bought the sweater in a vintage shop run by a colleague of mine. It accompanied me for quite a long time and I wore it during many important and less important events. The dress is second hand, I think it has been through many hands. The skirt from the chain store reminds me of the hot summer season of 2017.
Masha
My name is Masha, I'm Ukrainian and live in Berlin since 2011.
I work in the tech industry and consult UA fashion projects on the side.
I met Yasya in the early 2010s when working as a producer for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Kyiv and we stayed in touch over the years.
I was keen to transform my t-shirt collection into a compressed XOMEHKO piece for a long time. Yasya's idea of social interaction practices may have originated from us talking about transforming one's old and loved shirts into a new garment that preserves their sentimental value.
I brought Yasya my collection of merch t-shirts from Berlin techno DJs and labels my boyfriend and I are friends with. I really like all these prints, but I don't like how these shirts fit. I added several shirts that mean a lot but never get worn: a T-shirt given to my boyfriend at his previous job. And a T-shirt by our friend Richard, a Berlin-based fashion designer. Another T-shirt was given to me by my friend from Ukraine, and this embroidered shirt was given to me by my mother to wear on Ukrainian Independence Day. I will not wear it anymore, but it is a pity to throw it away. A T-shirt from the Kyiv brand Syndicate is dedicated to the Ukrainian avant-garde artist Malevich. Another shirt is a gift that my boyfriend Peter brought me from California. He chose it together with his mother. I wore it so much, it is now faded and torn. And the colorful shirt is another story: the company I work for specializes in underwater acoustics, and I received a cute dolphin merch T-shirt from our competitors - I can't bring myself to ever wear it.
Carina
My name is Carina and I run Fashion Revolution Germany. I am also a mother of two kids. I originally studied fashion design and worked in this field for several years doing upcycling. Then I founded my own upcycling brand and opened a sustainable fashion store here in Berlin and then started the Fashion Revolution campaign. Since then I've been doing more networking, bringing people together because I feel it's in my nature to make social connections. I want to draw people's attention to a conscious and sustainable lifestyle.
As for my personal style and wardrobe, because of work and children, I don't have much time to think about it.I like clothes rental platforms more than going to the shops. I also tried to sew some individual things, which was very rare.
I brought a lot of things from my wardrobe to this interaction practice, many of them I already have in mind to alter and remake. I like all these clothes for their textures, colors and quality. Some of them I found on the street or in a common box. This dress I picked up at a clothing swap party, but never wore it. And here is a maternity dress from a friend, but it got really torn after I wore it during my pregnancy. One of the first sustainable clothing items in my life is this black top that is already broken. I bought it in Amsterdam 20 years ago. Also love the colors and geometric shapes of this bright t-shirt, but over time I realized that I wasn't wearing it, so it became part of a collection of things that ended up in my wardrobe, and there was always the thought that one day I would wear it. But it never happened, so I brought them here.
ŁÓDŹ: the practice of social interaction
Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland, 2022
Since the full scale russian invasion in February 2022 Yasia went more into social interaction art practice that combines the cultural and socio-economic questions of the war migration with the criticism of the structure of the fashion industry. For her practice at the Central Museum of Textiles, she invited local residents from Łódź to join her project, who brought their own items, cut and combined them into new products. This cooperation with people who transfer their experience to textiles and make unexpected combinations breaks social and political roles raising the questions of refugee, decolonization, capitalist hierarchy and its alternatives. On the one hand, artist refers to the historical phenomenon of Nicolas Bourriaud's aesthetics of social interaction, and on the other hand, to her own experience related to industrial production, family tradition of second-hand and refugee experience. The main goal is the development of the NEW PRODUCTION idea, where volumes are a relative concept and all products are made as a voluntary creative impulse.
Kacper
I am 26 years old, I live in Łódź. I am a visual artist and office worker. Clothes make me happy, it can move and delight me. I've been trying not to buy new things for many years. Every day I try not to think too much about what my clothes express in terms of class or gender. It takes away the pleasure of putting them together. In the museum I left the remnants of things that I used in my art projects. They were lying in a box and waiting for their time. They found their time in the XOMEHKO project.
Tetiana
My name is Tatiana, I have been living in Poland for 12 years. I was born in Kyiv and I love my homeland, but I chose the life of an emigrant. I like to stand out and interesting styling helps me to do it. I am not talking about shocking or "flashy" clothes, but about taste combined with individualism. I also have a sentimental attachment to many things. My favorite clothes are usually the cheapest things bought on sale. The "look" always matches my mood, and the style of clothes expresses my personality. In Łódź I am embarrassed to wear some clothes because the views of some locals are too judgmental for me. In Kyiv, everything was different.
Olga
I'm a film director. I study languages. I am looking for myself, using all branches of art. I love sunny weather and lack of stinginess. I try to combine style and comfort, although sometimes it is not easy. Clothes also should give me a sense of confidence. I also like to be eccentric and give meaning to the clothes I wear. Many of the things that I brought from Ukraine are memorabilia that represent specific moments and memories. The clothes preserve my past and present life that the war took away from me.
Kira Victoria Max
I was building a family with my wife in Kryvyi Rih. Now we live in Lodz.
Recently, we have been buying used clothes. It is a practical and environmentally friendly way to buy clothes, and... this way is also interesting. We brought clothes that we will no longer wear anymore. These things remind us of our past, when our daughter was growing up, the war and moving to Lodz.
Julia
I work in sales and customer service on a daily basis. I also try to develop my photography portfolio. I co-founded the Movement collective, which deals with fashion, photography and music. I am interested in art in all its manifestations. My closet consists mainly of black clothes, and most of them come from second hand stores. I also wear individual pieces reworked together with the Movement collective. These are the ones that I feel best in and that best fit my personality.
Mario
I graduated from the Film School in Lodz and I'm into photography. I like to take photographs with a medium format analog camera. I wear simple, subdued clothes, sewn from natural materials. I do not spend money on logos and brands. I like minimalism, which expresses my attitude to art and photography I create.
For the museum I brought, among other things, a shirt I bought for a zloty in a military store. It was made in 1987 and is older than I am. No one has ever wore it, also I never wore it. Clothing is the covering of the body, a means of subtle expression, a thing that communicates membership in a social group. Clothes can, for example, reveal that someone has an artistic personality, or works in a corporation. People studying at the Department of Cinematography at the Lodz Film School often wear woolen hats and mountain boots, because they need to stay warm when working outside. Such evaluations and identifications can be misleading, however.
Roma Lera
My name is Roma, I am 19 years old. I was born in Ukraine, but I have been living and working in Lodz for 5 years.
My name is Lera, I am 20 years old. I moved to Lodz after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Roma: I'm good at clothes because it's a good way of self expression
Lera: I brought these things but I didn't wear them anymore, and I wanted to put them to good use, not just throw them away. I was wearing these things when I was fat, and they are a sign for me that I don't want to go back to the past
Adrian
I am originally from Pabianice, but live in Lodz. I graduated from computer graphics and work in the printing industry. After work, I co-founded an art collective.
For me, clothing is the key to self-expression. It should be consistent with my personality and should not limit me, but at the same time it can represent different aesthetics. I can have a different style every day.
Clothing allows us to communicate what we usually cannot say with words. The clothes I brought are related to my interests. They illustrate my creativity and diverse passions. Some of them have to do with music, while others have to do with fashion or with the world of sports.
Aneta
I am 26 years old. I graduated in architecture from the Technical University of Lodz, where I have lived basically all my life. But I'm moving with my boyfriend to the Netherlands soon.
I am not interested in fashion. I wear what I like. I like rock style, but I combine it with other aesthetics. I like dark and subdued colors, which to some extent reflect my personality. Clothing is a form that protects the body from external factors. And at the same time it allows you to look nice.
Kateryna
I am an artist from Ukraine who has been living outside the country since March. The situation of a refugee artist is different from that of other refugee women, because thanks to friends from foreign institutions I can continue my work. I try not to accumulate too many clothes and buy new things because I have to move constantly. When my two-year-old daughter and I flew out of Ukraine, I took only children's books in Ukrainian and a laptop. Almost all my things were donated by kind people and each of them is connected with some story.
