NIAMH TUFT

— NIAMH TUFT —

FASHION CURATOR

PROJECTS CURATOR /PROGRAMMER Ham House & Gardens, National Trust Out of Hours (Contemporary Art Project) August 2012

CURATOR (DISPLAYS) Marks & Spencer/Centre for Sustainable Fashion Collaboration Shwop Lab Dray Walk Gallery, Brick Lane April—May 2012 ASSISTANT CURATOR Mei Chu (Freelance Fashion Curator) Fashion in a Fallen City: Xintiandi Style, Shanghai

Fashion in the writing of Eileen Chang Unrealised Project CURATOR MA Research Project Scenes from Beatnik Life Victoria House — Installation — LCF MA_12 January 2012 INSTALLATION ASSISTANT Judith Clark (Freelance Fashion Curator) Washed Up Project Ocean, Selfridges

May 2011 CO-CURATOR Collective Gallery Camden Looking Twice: Fashion and Illusion April 2011 EXHIBITION ASSISTANT Invicta Grammar School/Farley Yard Trust Lee Miller: Fashion Photographs November 2010

EDUCATION

MA FASHION CURATION London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London Grade: Distinction September 2011—January 2012 BA ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Oxford University Grade: First Class September 2006—June 2009

PROJECTS

SHWOP LAB DRAY WALK GALLERY

APRIL—MAY 2012

A COLLABORATION between Centre for Sustainable

Fashion and Marks & Spencer the Shwop Lab formed

part of the launch of the Marks & Spence ‘shwopping’

campaign which encouraged consumers to consider

sustainable fashion.

The lab was a blend of designer’s studio, public

workshop and exhibition with a programme curated by

Dilys Williams, the Director of the Centre for

Sustainable Fashion.

My role was to design installations to showcase the

clothing donated by influential celebrities and members

of the public and also the work made over the course of

the lab by resident fashion designers: Gary Harvey,

Michelle Lowe Holder, Noel Stewart and Dr Noki.

The initial sketches shown opposite were pitched to

Centre for Sustainable Fashion and Marks & Spencer.

As the donations and new pieces were made over the

course of the lab it was ‘live curated’ whilst open to the

public and installations were added over the duration of

the event.

Exhibition Design: Jump Studios

Images © Niamh Tuft 2012

FASHION IN A FALLEN CITY FASHION IN THE WRITING OF EILEEN CHANG

XINTIANDI STYLE

ON HOLD UNTIL 2013

An exhibition planned to take place as part of China

Vogue’s Fashion Night Out at Xintiandi Style in

Shanghai.

The exhibition used contemporary Chinese and British

fashion to illustrate the novels of Eileen Chang which

contain rich descriptions of clothing. Each designer

represented a narrative and garments from their

collections took on characters from Eileen Chang’s

writing.

The exhibition design took its inspiration from the

distinctive Shikumen architecture of the Xintiandi

district in Shanghai. Shikumen arches framed each

scene creating a labyrinthine street through which

visitors could wander.

The designers invited to participate were: Mary

Katrantzou, Simone Rocha, Huishan Zhang and Yang

Du. My role was to assist the curator in the

development and planning of the exhibition.

© M

ARY K

ATRAN

TZ

OU

A/W

2011

THE PRINT ON THE

SARUNG WAS DARK AND TANGLED,

CLINGING AND SPRAWLING WITH SHAPES SUGGESTING

ANYTHING FROM REPTILES TO FOLIAGE, WITH ORANGES AND

GREENS BLOSSOMING FROM THE DARKEST

SHADE OF GOLD.

“

”

ONE COULD

DEVELOP A CASE OF NIGHT BLINDNESS

FROM THE DRAMATICALLY JARRING COLOUR

COMBINATION. ONLY SHE COULD PULL OF SUCH AN

OUTFIT WITH

ABSOLUTE EASE.

“

”

SHE WORE A ROBE

SO LONG IT TOUCHED THE

GROUND AND SO WICKEDLY FRESH, DRIPPINGLY MOIST

GREEN, AS THOUGH WHATEVER IT TOUCHED WOULD

TURN GREEN AS

WELL.

“

”

© M

ARY K

ATRAN

TZ

OU

A/W

2011

© S

IMO

NE R

OCH

A A

/W 2

011 S

/S 2

012 A

/W 2

010

WHEN THEY FIRST MET, SHE STOOD NEXT TO THE

GLASS DOOR, IN A SILK BLOUSE OF BLOOD-ORANGE; HOWEVER, THE INITIAL IMPRESSION WAS OF A VAGUE

WHITE. SHE WAS SLIM AND TALL, WITH A BODY ONE COULD DRAW WITH A STRAIGHT LINE. AS SHE FACED THE WIND, HER GARMENT FLEW BEHIND HER,

SHARPENING THE IMPRESSION OF A SLIGHT FIGURE. HER FACE WAS COMFORTABLY SWEET AND BEAUTIFULLY DELICATE, BUT STILL ONLY LEFT THE

IMPRESSION OF VAGUE WHITENESS.

”

“ SHE WAS WEARING

BLACK FROM HEAD TO

TOE. UNDER THE GLOW

OF THE LAMP, ONE

COULD SPOT THE

BEGINNINGS OF LINES WORN INTO HER

SORROWFUL

COUNTENANCE; AND

YET, SHE POSSESSED A

QUIET BEAUTY .

“

”

© H

UIS

HAN

ZH

AN

G C

OU

TU

RE 2

011

© Y

AN

G D

U A

/W 2

009

HUISHAN ZHANG IS AN EMERGING DESIGNER SHOWING IN LONDON BUT ORIGI-

NALLY FROM QUINGAO IN CHINA. FOR FASHION IN A FALLEN CITY HE WAS COM-MISSIONED TO PRODUCE PIECES THAT TOOK INSPIRIATION FROM EILEEN CHANG’S

NOVEL THE GOLDEN CANGUE—A TRAGIC STORY OF A WOMAN DESTROYED BY FOR-BIDDEN LOVE AND JEALOUSY.

YANG DU LIVES AND WORKS IN LONDON WAS BORN IN DALIAN, CHINA. SHE

MOVED TO ENGLAND TO STUDY AT CENTRAL ST MARTINS AND HAS BECOME KNOWN FOR HER WITTY SURREALIST DESIGNS AND HER STRIKING USE OF

COLOUR. FOR FASHION IN A FALLEN CITY SHE WAS INVITED TO PRODUCE PIECES THAT EXPLOED EILEEN CHANG’S ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NOVEL LOVE IN A FALLEN CITY A STORY IN WHICH A LOVE STORY BETWEEN A DIVORCEE AND HER NIECE’S

SUITOR IS PLAYED OUT AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF WORLD WAR TWO AND THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF HONG KONG.

YANG DU LIVES AND WORKS IN LONDON WAS BORN IN DALIAN, CHINA. SHE

MOVED TO ENGLAND TO STUDY AT CENTRAL ST MARTINS AND HAS BECOME KNOWN FOR HER WITTY SURREALIST DESIGNS AND HER STRIKING USE OF

COLOUR. FOR FASHION IN A FALLEN CITY SHE WAS INVITED TO PRODUCE PIECES THAT EXPLOED EILEEN CHANG’S ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NOVEL LOVE IN A FALLEN CITY A STORY IN WHICH A LOVE STORY BETWEEN A DIVORCEE AND HER NIECE’S

SUITOR IS PLAYED OUT AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF WORLD WAR TWO AND THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF HONG KONG.

SCENES FROM BEATNIK LIFE MA FINAL PROJECT

INSTALLATION VIEW: LCF MA_12 SHOW

Scenes from Beatnik Life, developed my central interest

as a curator- the imaginative possibilities of story-

telling and fiction in the context of the fashion

exhibition. This explored visual storytelling as much as

verbal narratives and how they can engage the

imagination of the visitor.

As the Beats and beatniks were a countercultural group

that emerged from a literary subculture in post-WWII

American and Europe the link between narrative and

Beat clothing was a natural one and full of potential for

an exhibition. Sections of Beat writing describing

clothing were cut-up and rearranged to create seven

governing narratives on which the exhibition's scenes

were based. Each story illustrated a theme from Beat

lives using clothing as a visual storytelling device.

Scenes from beatnik life was proposed as a pop-up

exhibition of sorts across a variety of vacant site in

Soho, which was the epicentre of British Beat culture in

the late 1950s. Each site would house a scene, or part

of a scene, that was a visual representation of a whole

story or a moment in a story.

To read sample stories visit

http://showtime.arts.ac.uk/NiamhTuft

Images © Niamh Tuft 2012

DRESSES THAT PRETEND TO BE OTHER GARMENTS, OTHER OBJECTS FABRICS THAT LIE

PRINTS THAT LOOK THREE DIMENSIONAL BUT ARE FLAT

BODIES THAT ARE SKEWED AND WARPED BY THEIR ENCLOSING GARMENTS GARMENT SHAPES THAT DEFY THEIR OWN LAWS

CLOTHING THAT DOES NOT SEEM REAL

Looking twice: Fashion and Illusion examined the use of illusion by

contemporary fashion designers. Featuring fantastical clothing that stretches

the boundaries of reality the exhibition the organising principle for the

exhibition was based on the classifications of R. L. Gregory , a distinguished

neuropsychologist, who divided optical illusion into four categories:

distortion, ambiguity, paradox and fiction.

The exhibition, a platform for emerging British talent, showcased the work of

fashion graduates from Central St Martins College of Art and Design, London

College of Fashion and Edinburgh College of Art whose collections

experimented with perception and illusion.

The exhibition was curated by the MA Fashion Curation 2010-11 cohort. My

role was to head of research group which included developing the concept

and design of the exhibition, approaching designers, organising loans and

installing the exhibition onsite.

LOOKING TWICE: FASHION AND ILLUSION COLLECTIVE GALLERY, CAMDEN

APRIL 2011

1. MONICA LEONIK Behind the Mirror BA (Hons) Fashion: Design & Technology (Designer Pattern Cutter), London College of Fashion, 2010

2. ARA JO Hypnosis BA (Hons) Fashion Design (Womenswear), Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, 2009

3. SALOON FILMS Zooetrope

4. HIROKO NAKAJIMA Welcome Home BA (Hons) Fashion Design (Knitwear), Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, 2010

5. CHARLOTTE HEYLAR Decadent Dystopia BA (Hons) Textiles, Edinburgh College of Art, 2010

6. DINU TUDOR Illusion of Reality / Reality of Illusion MA Fashion Design & Technology, London College of Fashion, 201

7. MANDY SHARABANI A Fools Paradise BDes Fashion, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, 2010

8. EVA VAN AALS Double Decker BDes DesignLab, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, 2010

8. NATALIE RAE-RICHARDSON Well Dressed Animals BA (Hons) Fashion Design & Technology: Womenswear, London College of Fashion, 2010

8. EUMNI HWANG Play with Light MA Digital Fashion, London College of Fashion, 2011

Images © Rob Hart & Ivan Nunez 2011

WASHED UP CURATED BY JUDITH CLARK

SELFRIDGES

MAY 2011

Judith Clark’s exhibition for Project Ocean at

Selfridges featured contemporary and historic

fashion inspired by the sea. A field of coral

seized by UK customs the exhibition reminded

visitor of the precarious position of some

ocean environments in today’s world and the

threat to the strange beauty that inspired so

many of the contemporary pieces.

I assisted with the installation of Washed Up

overnight in Selfridges which included

mounting garments for display and installing

individual displays.

Images © Selfridges

LEE MILLER:

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHS INVICTA GRAMMAR SCHOOL & FARLEY

YARD TRUST

NOVEMBER 2010

An exhibition of Lee Miller photographs

including some fashion photographs never

previously shown. The exhibition was a

travelling exhibition curated by the Farley Yard

Trust.

I was responsible for selecting, ordering and

hanging images and for producing an

information leaflet to accompany the exhibition.

I also devised and lead a workshop for

A-level students which explored the literary

origins and intellectual history of the Surrealist

movement. This was part of a programme of

events entitled ’The Surreal Mind’.

Images © Farley Yard Trust (Lee Miller Archive)

OUT OF HOURS HAM HOUSE & GARDENS

AUGUST 2012

Out of Hours was a evening of live art, music, film,

poetry and workshops brought together around the

theme of time. It was part of the Garden of Reason

programme, a season of contemporary art at Ham

House.

The programme set out to interrogate the various ways

that time is experienced and explained, both as a

subject of scientific, philosophical and historiographic

investigation, and as an inescapable aspect of individual

experience. It considered fragmented, heterodox and

reticulated models of time in order to develop

alternatives to the traditional notions of history and

heritage presented at Ham House. The event will

addressed not only Ham as it was and is now, but the

possibilities for its future.

The programme included a series of specially

commissioned site-specific works that take inspiration

from the unique historical context, architecture, and

landscape of Ham House and Gardens.

My role was to curate, programme and produce the

event which included commissioning and booking work

across the fields of food art, live art, performance,

visual art, film, talks & lectures, music and spoken

word.

Images © Ham House & Gardens

A full programme can be viewed here:

http://milesumney.com/files/programme.pdf

NIAMH TUFT FREELANCE CURATOR t: 07807459771 e: niamh.tuft@gmail.com