The Hoodie
30 November 2019 - 22 August 2020
Bogomir Doringer
Het Nieuwe Instituut and curator Lou Stoppard have invited a range of artists to respond to the themes of the project with a new work created from their own individual perspective and practice. In his contribution Bogomir Doringer addresses the many different depictions and representations of the hoodie in the media, linking these to his long-term examination of issues surrounding privacy and surveillance.
In a series of video essays in the exhibition and an online contribution, Bogomir Doringer is creating a collage made up of his own new images, existing journalistic or documentary footage and legendary moments from popular digital culture in which hoodies feature. In his own unique way, Doringer also offers us insights into the rich (visual) research that led up to the creation of The Hoodie.
Part of the installation was created via AI GAN (Artificial Intelligence Generative Advisarlian Network). For the exhibition, 8,000 images of hoodies were used to train AI to generate new 'hoodie' images, shown on the web page and presented at the exhibition.
"This part of the work underlines transformative and (un)predictability of a hoodie narrative. It underlines it's a grotesque, uncanny, horrific character and how a hoodie is transforming through times and mass media" explains Doringer.
"The hoodie is - possibly alongside the burka and the ski mask - the most hotly debated item of clothing now. It constantly swings between a kind of erotic tension (Eros) and fear (Thanatos). Outside of its many practical qualities, the hoodie (as well as other cowls or hoods) have an almost magical ability to transform the wearer; to protect them or allow them to feel more powerful. It enables them to exclude themselves from or even connect with others, in the same way a mask can. There is a certain irony in the fact that hoodies are mass-produced and made popular by the media. After all, for many people, this mainstream piece of clothing is the only 'safe haven' they can afford. The hoodie offers a small degree of protection in an age when privacy is a privilege reserved for the few and identities are changed and exploited by technology."
Revealing the rich prior research
One of the aims of The Hoodie is to tell visitors - through the versatile mix of voices and perspectives provided by the artists, works, documentation and objects included in the project - stories they can identify with, but also to surprise them with new information and insights. In the run-up to the final project, curator Lou Stoppard carried out extensive (visual) research, bringing together an even larger quantity (if possible) of sources than could ever be accommodated in the exhibition and on the website. Digital finds in particular proved difficult to translate for the context of a physical presentation, although these have the potential to provide extremely valuable nuances and extra dimensions to the overall story. Opening up part of this rich prior research process quickly became part of the assignment given to Doringer by Stoppard and Het Nieuwe Instituut. The research/selection of the material from Doringer's films therefore ending up being a collaboration between the artist and the curator, which Doringer finally translated into his video essays on the basis of his personal vision and interpretations.
'The politics of the face'
His previous project _FACELESS_ was a significant secondary motivation for working with Bogomir Doringer. This study of visual culture and the disappearance or hiding of faces in society post-9/11 resulted in a large travelling group exhibition in which experts from different fields of work come together, each confronting 'the politics of the face' in their own way. The hoodie as a topic was an inevitable part of the research process, although it was not yet specifically examined in detail. This is why we asked Doringer specifically to focus and continue his research in this particular direction.
Bogomir Doringer
Bogomir Doringer (Belgrade, Serbia, 1983) is an artist whose work is informed by his fascination with the definition and investigation of the wide-ranging social phenomena that ensue from socio-political interaction. Between 2012-2015, he was the curator of an international series of exhibitions and events entitled FACELESS. A project inspired by his interest in the recurring presence of hidden faces in society after 11 September 2001. He is currently carrying out doctoral research as an artistic researcher at the Universität für angewandte Kunst in Vienna in the form of the ongoing research project "I Dance Alone", which takes a bird's eye view of clubbing as a reflection of social and political change. Doringer lives and works in Amsterdam.
The new work by Bogomir Doringer was developed for Het Nieuwe Instituut as part of the exhibition_ The Hoodie_ and was made possible thanks in part to support from the Mondriaan Fund. The research/visual curating was carried out in cooperation with Lou Stoppard.
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