index

COMME des MARXISTS -- White Columns, New York 2013 / Performa, 2013

Cat Walk - White Columns, New York / Peroforma 2013

Intallation view - White Columns, New York

karl marx

other projects

about this work text

 

MARX MIDDLE CLASS SQUEEZE

y

With the unbelieveable generous support of STOLL AMERICA.  Special thanks to Jörg Hartmann and Markus Kirkwald.

 

MARX MIDDLE CLASS SQUEEZE

This series addresses those economic realities that most Americans are mainly concerned with: access to schools, jobs, health care and retirement. In the USA, given the tremendous income disparity, even some of the various middle classes are about to lose out on all those guarantees of the past which become a luxury. Nothing is anymore a merit based level playing field and socio-economic and racial distortions get reinforced through precisely these realms, i.e. to have access to good schools or not, to have health care insurance or not etc. I was able to have exact computer controlled machine knitting and could translate my designs into very simple easy to wear outfits featuring comic book kind of speech bubbles with sentences like “Can’t pay for school” or “Just lost my job.” They were supported by the over-dimensional logo MARX MIDDLE CLASS SQUEEZE and could also include a fist I also used in the logo of HERMES MARX.

Some of the poncho like cuts fit all sizes including possible obese members of our society which brings us back to questions of education and health care. Ironically enough, the production of these items belongs to some of my most expensive things that were only made possible with the generous support of STOLL AMERICA’s New York based super advanced knitting computers which are nearly impossible to be paid for outside a limited sample production for the high end fashion industry. Even the necessary high quality merino wool was in the end very expensive and gives a hint to the economic realities of clothing in earlier times when people were only in possession of very few dressing items over the time of a life span due to the hight costs in comparison to food, income and housing.

more text

k

l

l

s

k

l

 

 

 

 

MIDDLE CLASS SQUEEZE

kittwork: STOLL AMERICA, 100% merino wool; design help and assistance: Mijia Zhang,Florentina Leitner

modelling: Ruth Patir, Patrizia Leitner, Assetou Gaudissard

L

l

s

s

 

 

s

s

 

s

s

 d

 

S

 

 

s

 

front

s

 

back

l

 

sleeves

s

 

 

s    colors are wrong on the draft.. iIT IS YELLOW AS BELOW

 

front

S

 

back

S

 

sleeves

s

 

 

s

 

s

s

sleves

s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

s

s