International Visitors Programme
For the visit of Selinam ‘Sel’ Kofiga Gbemu to Rotterdam, Fashion in Flux invited Branko Popovic, artistic director of Fashionclash, to curate Feeling Fashion, a four-day pop-up exhibition and live event inspired by Sel’s vision and work. On 1 June, Sel built his installation for this event at the Nieuwe Instituut. He also attended the opening of the Richard Avedon exhibition at the Kunsthal, where he met curator Shehera Grot and others.
On Sunday 2 June, Sel took part in the Feeling Fashion event, where his work was interpreted by actress and performer Kimberley Agyarko in a spoken word performance, which was attended by around 100 guests. Prior to the event, he had lunch with curator Popovic, participating designers Povilas Gegevicius, Jelena Bondt and Tevin Blancheville, and performers Kimberley Agyarko, Hélène Vrijdag, Lui Montes and Lester David.
On 4 June, Sel was the guest of honour at a second public event, Textile Wasteland. At the sold-out event, he gave a moving performative lecture together with Dutch sound artist Phantom Wizard to an audience of around 150. In the second part of the evening, he took part in a panel discussion with Brigitte Stepputtis (Global Head of Couture, Vivienne Westwood), Inez Naomi Correa Alves (Founder, Versatile Forever) and (Shirley Ruesen, Board Member, Opnieuw Goed). Prior to the event, the panel members met for a networking dinner. Other attendees were Mariangela Lavanga (Associate Professor of Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship, Erasmus University), Astrid Manden-Benneker (Innovation Manager Cultural and Creative Industries, Erasmus University), Nadia Troeman (Programme Manager, Nieuwe Instituut), Esther Muñoz Grootveld (Co-Founder, Fashion in Flux) and Yophi Ignacia (Co-Founder, Fashion in Flux).
After these two public events, Sel held a private workshop with the four designers who participated in the Versatile Academy at the textile sorting centre Opnieuw Goed. On the last two days of his visit, Sel visited the State of Fashion Biennale in Arnhem. Programme director Renée van der Hoek gave him a tour of the exhibition. He also met with Aric Chen, Director of the Nieuwe Instituut.
Selinam Kofiga Gbemu (Sel Kofiga) is an Accra-based multidisciplinary artist and the founder of the Slum Studio, a multifaceted platform, brand and creative community interested in the politics of clothing production and consumption.