TORONTO, September 13, 2018 — The Royal Ontario Museum’s (ROM) presentations of Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion and Philip Beesley: Transforming Space will come to a close on Monday, October 8, 2018. This is the final stop on the two-year North American tour of Transforming Fashion. Museum visitors can experience the final days of these fantastical and fashion-forward exhibitions during the Thanksgiving long weekend, from Friday, October 5 to Monday, October 8.
Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion explores the Dutch fashion designer’s futuristic creations that push the boundaries of traditional fashion and craftsmanship. Van Herpen’s work has graced the runways of Amsterdam, London, and Paris, and has been worn by style icons such as Beyoncé, Björk, and Cara Delevingne. Most recently, her creations have been spotted on Lady Gaga during her appearance at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. With designs that have earned international acclaim, van Herpen’s bold creations are at the forefront of experimentation and collaboration. Transforming Fashion showcases the evolution of van Herpen’s leading-edge design with one-of-a-kind pieces from 15 collections spanning 2008 to 2015.
Running concurrently with Transforming Fashion is Philip Beesley: Transforming Space, a new installation from Canadian artist and visionary architect Philip Beesley. Beesley’s large-scale, immersive artworks incorporate technology and engineering to create “living” sculpture. His revolutionary approach to structures and space rests within the emerging field of responsive architecture. This ROM-original installation merges chemistry, artificial intelligence, and encompassing soundscapes from Beesley and his collaborators in the Living Architecture Systems group to create a visually stunning, interactive, and forest-inspired landscape. By merging lighting and motion sensors with atmospheric sounds, Transforming Space becomes a living sculpture that breathes, undulates, and shifts in response to the movements of visitors. The installation includes core contributions from Waterloo-based Living Architecture Systems and Amsterdam’s spatial sound technology specialists, 4DSOUND.
Cited by Vogue’s Suzy Menkes as the most powerful fashion mix of nature and technology, van Herpen and Beesley have worked together on over 10 collaborations, some of which are on display in the Transforming Fashion exhibition. On display for the first time since debuting on the runway of Paris Couture week 2017 is the Dome Dress, a signature piece from Iris van Herpen’s Fall 2017 Aeriform collection and commissioned exclusively for the ROM’s permanent collection of Textiles and Fashion. This collaboration between van Herpen and Beesley is both fashion and sculpture, and is a shining example of how their ground-breaking work is changing the way we experience and engage with art, fashion, and architecture.
A combined ticket gives visitors access to Philip Beesley: Transforming Space and Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion. ROM Members always enjoy free admission and can see both exhibitions.
Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion is co-organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Groninger Museum, the Netherlands. The exhibition was co-curated by Sarah Schleuning formerly of the High Museum of Art, and Mark Wilson and Sue-an van der Zijpp, Groninger Museum.
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Netta Rondinelli
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nrondinelli@rom.on.ca
Amanda Fruci, Communications Manager
416.586.5558
amandaf@rom.on.ca
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ABOUT THE ROM’S TEXTILES AND FASHIONS COLLECTION
The ROM’s holdings of textiles and fashions are the largest in Canada, and rank amongst the top three collections in the world in size, scope and quality. Counting over 55,000 pieces, the collection is truly global and cross-cultural, ranging from BCE to the present, with spectacular examples from five continents. For the past 100 years, this encyclopedic collection has been recognized as one of the world’s most important and encyclopaedic, a reputation strengthened by pioneering ROM research, exhibitions, and publications.
ABOUT THE ROM
Founded in 1914, the Royal Ontario Museum showcases art, culture and nature from around the world and across the ages. Among the top 10 cultural institutions in North America, Canada’s largest and most comprehensive museum is home to a world-class collection of 13 million art objects and natural history specimens, featured in 40 gallery and exhibition spaces. As the country’s preeminent field research institute and an international leader in new and original findings, the ROM plays a vital role in advancing our understanding of the artistic, cultural and natural world. Combining its original heritage architecture with the contemporary Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, the ROM serves as a national landmark, and a dynamic cultural destination in the heart of Toronto for all to enjoy.