Politische Haute Couture in der Box 12 der Galerie SLP i Bikini Berlin 19.11. -29.11.2021 © Astra Pentaxia

On September 12, STREETWARE invited to the catwalk of the socio-economic utopia at Tempelhofer Feld as part of the Berlin Fashion Week. Thirty models presented saved items from the Berlin asphalt and questioned the production methods of the fast fashion, but also the behavior of consumers. The canon of beauty ideals and aesthetics dictated by the fashion industry was put up for discussion by shiny people with bodies beyond the norm.

From November 19, some of their effigies were presented as large-format prints on canvas opposite photographs taken during a session in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, in July this year in collaboration between Ruth Faith Nalule, Eria Mutalwa, Rose Katusabe, Reagan Ahabwe, barbara caveng and photographer Jim Joël Nyakaana .

The images provided the aesthetic context for the presentation of the first pieces from Ruth Faith Nalule's collection of political haute couture. Behind bars, Box No12 of Galerie SLP at Bikini Berlin became the setting for an exploration of how much colonial continuity we wear on our skin and how much of the world we want to further destroy with fashion.

Die fashion designerin Ruth faith Nalule im ‚cage dress‘ an der Eröffnung am 19.11. im Bikini Berlin© Astra Pentaxia und  Purvi Dhranghadaryia

"There is no escape" - Ruth Faith Nalule's creations of 'political haute couture' describe the clash of European second-hand clothing exported to Africa and local manufactured fabric and garments: associations and images are connected, colonial continuity is interrupted:  The pin-up bunny is no longer grinning from the chest of a T-shirt by a Japanese Label, but sits fat on the bottom of a dress that fuses traditional Kitenge with an animal print dressing gown from Victoria's Secret, a lumberjack shirt from Germany and a Nike shirt: 'Blood the Body' lettering cut from a fast-fashion shirt, reminiscent of the Black Live Matters movement as underarm cuffs.. At the opening, the fashion designer and fashion activist wears the 'cage dress': her body, wrapped in a dress made again of kitenge, is caught in a mesh of strips of tire material, additionally knotted with sisal cord.

'The Congress on the Clothes Dump' described a series of events between September and November 2021 dedicated to an inclusive and participatory philosophizing about the meaning of clothes, their production, distribution and consumption. Invited guests and random attendees digged into textonic layers, searched for solutions, questioned the ethics of the second skin. Clothing protects and adorns. It represents basic aesthetic and existential needs, but its mode of production destroys the environment on a large scale and endangers the physical and psychological well-being of the people who cope with the manufacturing processes in socially intolerable conditions. How could sustainable production and economy look like - this is what we explored between November 16 and 28 together with author Beatrice Lamwaka, fashion designer Ruth Faith Nalule, photographer Jim Joel Nyakaana and Social Entrepreneur and environmental activist Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa in a multi-perspective way. Venues for the public pondering were Bikini Berlin, the laundromat 115 in Torstraße and the Vestithek in the Helene Nathan Library.

Auf Lumpentour: Jim  Joel Nyakaana | barbara caveng | Miguel Aguigah | Beatrice Lamwaka © Lotti Seebeck

„Aus weggeworfener Kleidung vom Straßenrand macht die Schweizer Künstlerin Barbara Caveng wortwörtlich Streetware. Die kann man kaufen oder ausleihen.“, schreibt Manuel Aguigah in der TAZ vom 9.12.2021.
Der Journalist hat uns  am 19.11.2021 auf einer Tour begleitet und sich beim gemeinsamen Lumpensammeln  mit unseren Gäst:innen aus Uganda, die Autorin Beatrice Lamwaka und dem Fotografen Jim Joel Nyakaana unterhalten. Mit auf Tour war auch Lotti Seebeck, die nebenbei noch fotografierte.
Der Artikel aus der TAZ gibt es online hier nachzulesen…oder zum downloaden Vom Bordstein in den Kleiderschrank_ Das wird noch gebraucht – taz.de. 

fast fashion secondhand africa: Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa | KDindie©Paolo Gallo |26.11.2021

Das Wasser der Spree ist nicht süß - [The water of the Spree is neither sweet nor fresh] 

Days 10, 11 & 12 of the 'congress on the clothes heap'
Excerpt from the logbook of barbara caveng

 'I hope the tour was worthwhile for you ' - so it is friendly inquired in the email of 1.12.2021. Our friends are long since back in Uganda. In the morning of the 28th of November at 6:50 the plane had taken off punctually from Berlin in the direction Brussels and later in the morning left the continent behind, direction for Entebbe.

CUT
27.11.2021

I saw a tear run down Ruth's cheek. If pain burns, it must be hot. The warmth on that cold morning came from the pain. It was the 11th day of our sojourn, the last. We had set out to visit the African Quarter - where colonial history had inscribed itself in the street names. Mnyaka Sururu Mboro, who was to guide us, had suggested the Ugandan Street/African Street- junction, as a meeting point.

Viewpoints and insights at the corner of Uganda and African Street: Lotti Seebeck, Ruth Faith Naluke, Mnyaka Sururu Mboro, barbara caveng, Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa, Jim Joel Nyakaana ©Jim Joel Nyakaana, Céline Iffli-Naumann.

CUT
25.11.2021

"If you need a lot of space to board, the pier at the Caprivi Bridge is best",Astrid had advised on the phone. 'Where?'- 'Caprivi Bridge,' the shipping manager repeated, 'in Charlottenburg.' -'Caprivi - with K or with C?'-'With C.'

CUT
27.11.

source:www.welt.de/geschichte/article111963581/Deutschlands-Exportgut-nach-Afrika-war-Schnaps.html

I recognized a map in the hands of Mboro, more precisely - a copy of a map from a book. Later on the web I find a similar one: The map is drawn with pen and ink and colorized. Togo, German Southwest Africa, German East Africa and Cameroon are watercolored reddish-brown - the shade of dried blood. The borders are depicted as red hemlines. The contours of German Southwest Africa resemble a skull with a strange slender, beak-like outgrowth. The tentacle is bulging into northeastern Namibia.

CUT
26.11.

From U-Bismarckstraße we had moved to Caprivibrücke in a procession of rag pickers. Our hybrid vehicles were loaded with clothes from our collection of 'Saved Items' from the last ten months: We had picked up a ton of clothing and textiles from the asphalt of the city.

The Caprivi Bridge, named after Leo von Caprivi, Imperial chancellor after Bismarck between 1890 and 1894 

Since 1927, the Zambezi has meandered parallel to the Uganda Road through the African Quarter. In 1890, German interests focused on Africa's fourth largest river - after all, it seemed that a direct connection between German Southwest Africa and German East Africa could be established via the water. Germany ceded Zanzibar to England and in return "received" Heligoland and the aforementioned strip of land.

The word 'Zipfel' unavoidably makes me think of sausage.

Kisitu wore a classic wool coat, of a straight cut with narrow lapels over his grayish trousers with flaed legs down to the ankle, vest and shirt of an Indian label. We had all coveted the piece, but the garment did not fit anyone or the coat didn’t suit the wearer - until Kisitu tried it on. Its label: United Colours of Benetton - fished out of the gutter on some corner of the city - saved by Streetware. .

We sailed our rag boat past the containers on the harbour site of Westhafen, boxes that symbolize the global and often enough post-colonial trade in goods - like the export of our last season's fashion preferences disposed of in the clothing containers towards Africa.

The proud clinker facade of the Behala building blocks the view to LaGeSo (Landesamt für Flüchtlinge und Soziales). The limbo of the buildings is haunted by people without papers. Perhaps they came by ship from the Libyan coast across the Mediterranean, wearing the second-hand clothes that once hung in our closets.

We pass the Humboldt Forum - a museum site with global aspirations, in which colonial continuities in thought and action are shamefully manifested. One of the alliance partners of the campaign No-Humboldt 21 is the association Berlin Postkolonial, whose founding member is Mnyaka Sururu Mboro.

CUT
29.11.

Reading up: The Caprivi Strip on Namibian land was renamed the 'Zambezi Region' in August 2013. Since then, the port city of Lüderitz is called „!Nami≠Nüs“ -'Hug' 

 Dressed as ragamuffins à la mode in rags of fast fashion, we cruised merrily along the Spree and chanted our slogan with verve to passers-by on the banks. Eye patches instead of rose-colored glasses.

On the walk of remembrance in the African Quarter of Berlin, we as white and black humans had to endure, see, read and hear about what the historical basis is on which we meet as fellow colleagues and friends.

Why, I wonder, did the Caprivi Bridge not get a new name at the same time as the area was renamed Namibia? For example in 'Privi_Lege Bridge'.
This would not be an embrace but perhaps a rapprochement and the riverside beer garden would then perhaps be called 'Pleasure Garden of Privileges' and not CapRivi.

'The Congress on the Clothes Dump' described a series of events between September and November 2021 dedicated to an inclusive and participatory philosophizing about the meaning of clothes, their production, distribution and consumption. Invited guests and random attendees digged into textonic layers, searched for solutions, questioned the ethics of the second skin. Clothing protects and adorns. It represents basic aesthetic and existential needs, but its mode of production destroys the environment on a large scale and endangers the physical and psychological well-being of the people who cope with the manufacturing processes in socially intolerable conditions. How could sustainable production and economy look like - this is what we explored with people from the global - as well as Berlin - North and South in a multi-perspective way.

Mnyaka Sururu Mboro, born and raised in Tanzania, came to study in Germany in 1978 and then settled in Berlin. He is a board member and co-founder of Berlin Postkolonial e.V., and for decades has been active in advocating for a critical confrontation of German colonialism. One of his main concerns is the restitution of human remains, which were stolen during the German colonial era and which to the present day are found in the collections of the “Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz” (SPK), the “Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte” (BGAEU), as well as several other institutions all over Germany.
http://justlisten.berlin-postkolonial.de/en/mnyaka-sururu-mboro

Quelle Umbenennung der Stadt Lüderitz: www.dw.com/de/deutsche-ortsnamen-verschwinden/a-17009617#:~:text=Nami%E2%89%A0N%C3%BCs%22.,bis%201915%20eine%20deutsche%20Kolonie

Laia, Pauli und Nazanin Shamloo©Anja_Grabert | 12.9.2021

IT DOES NOT MATTER IF A DRESS IS USED OR IF IT IS A NEW DRESS FROM SOME TRENDY BRAND, WHAT MATTERS IS THE SOUL THAT WEARS IT.

Lorenzo

Walk with us!

Wir machten die Flugbahn zum Catwalk und demonstrierten Mode vom Asphalt an hybriden Wäscheständern auf der Aufmarschfläche R11 des Tempelhofer Feldes!

Es demonstrierten für Fashion-Standards einer gerechteren Zukunft und als Beitrag zur Debatte um Körperbild und Ästhetik:

Alice Fassina | Aliyah Iffli | Annelie | Boris Steinberg | Céline Iffli-Naumann | Deborah Klassen | Freeda | Flora Carmim | Geneviève | Kdindie | Laia  |LaMoel | Laura-Marie Gruch  | Manuela Coelho | Marlene Sommer | NavaNaimaPan | Nazanin Shamloo  | Nomadin der Lüfte |Pauli | Philairone | Purvi Dhrangaderiya | Sara Tivane | Sarah Nevada Grether | Sophie Stolle | Zohara |

Training: Leo Naomi Baur | José Caba | barbara caveng
Styling : STREETWARE saved item featuring Mo Lateef

Make Up & Haare:   Narong Boonme | Nazanin Emami | Olga Ionica Zavisic  | Reena Kumari | Sandrine Louise  |

Fotos Anja Grabert & Paolo Gallo

Im Kontext der Berlin Fashion Week forderte Berlins politischstes Mode-Label die Fast Fashion heraus, transformierte weggeworfene Textilien in prêt-à-porter und inszenierte soziale Plastik. Um mit Saved Items zur Bildung nachhaltiger Standards, fairer Produktionsketten und dekolonialisierter Lebensstilmuster beizutragen, veranstaltete STREETWARE den demonstrativen Catwalk der sozial-ökonomischen Utopie. Die präsentierten Fashion-Highlights stammten unmittelbar vom Asphalt der Straßen Berlins und dienten als provokanter Ausgangspunkt, um über Nachhaltigkeit, Produktionsweisen und soziale Praktik ins Gespräch zu kommen.

ICH LEGE AB

Neben Nachhaltigkeit, Produktionsweisen und sozialer Praktik wurde das Diktat der  Schönheitsideale frei interpretiert und   Ästhetiken zur Debatte gestellt. Die Kollektion von STRRETWARE wurde auf dem Tempelhofer Feld präsentiert von Models, die durch ihre einzigartige Ausstrahlung  Normbegriffe sprengten und demonstrierten, was Schönheit wirklich bedeutet

Marlene Sommer hat sich den BMI vorgenommen:

Overweight – over WHAT weight?

Overnight, half the American population became “overweight”, just bc someone changed the BMI borders … wtf?

 In today’s society, the so-called “body-mass-index” is like a status symbol, sth that defines your class, the amount of appreciation you receive. We don’t compare the price of our house or car, the job of our partner… we compare ourselves. 

When everything else feels out of control, there’s sth we can do – that’s what we think. But we can’t fight our biology. Even if we all ate and moved the same, we’d still all look different. The BMI was introduced in the 1830s by a mathematician, not a biologist so there ain’t much science behind it.

There’s a beauty standard, so many ppl try to archive by going against their biological needs. Is that really what we want: The same boring looks, so that no one can differentiate us? What once made us humane and separated us from robots is what we all strive for. Others claim, they just wanted to be “normal”; fit in. Right… who defines that? That’s society. And who is society? Us – you and me. Why are we creating a norm, only certain ppl can “archive”? You can’t fight your biology.

Why not establish our true authentic self as the new normal? Flaws and stretch marks, rolls, and muscles. Let’s celebrate what our bodies DO for us instead of hating “all your curves and edges, all [our] perfect imperfections” as John Legend says in his song “All of me”.

Why don’t we appreciate the fact that we all look different? Ain’t it amazing that we’re one species but still all so unique? 

Be yourself, everyone else already exists.

The BMI was once supposed to be a guideline, sth to express ppl’s health easily. We’re smarter today: Health ain’t only about your weight, it’s physical sanity, mental health and so much more. Health ain’t a visual diagnosis. A normal weight is the one your body feels most comfortable at; your setpoint is individual, not a matter of BMI numbers!

Our body is our home; our motor. We cannot cut the energy and expect electricity to still run. You can’t live a full life on an empty stomach. We need to start seeing our body as an instrument, not an ornament… it enables us to walk, laugh, write, talk, visit places. Don’t miss out on 95% of life only to weight 5% less

Do you wanna walk with us too?

ein poetische Fragestellung und eine Hommage an die abgestreiften Textilien von NavaNaimaPan

Ich komme Nachhause. Öffne die Tür zu einem Zimmer, das seines war, heute meines ist.  In der Mitte steht ein Bett, ungemacht, so als hätte er letzte Nacht noch darin geträumt. Behutsam setzte ich mich auf die Bettkante. Es gehört mir noch nicht, Höflichkeit ist angebracht. Ich entdecke eine alte Holztruhe, öffne sie ohne Erwartung etwas darin zu finden, vielmehr mit dem Gedanken, ob und was ich hineinlegen könnte. Einrichten.

Der Geruch von ausgetragenen Turnschuhen und modrigen Klamotten steigt aus der Holzkiste, entblösst eine Jeansjacke. Ich ziehe sie hinaus, schüttele sie aus, als ob der Geruch so vom Stoff abfallen könnte, ziehe sie mir über. Sie ist zu gross.

Ich frage mich, wie die selbe Jacke über seine Schultern fällt.

Ich widme mich meinem Rucksack, packe die Kleider aus. Die gestreifte Hose mit Schlag. Heute gehört sie ihr und mir, wir teilen sie uns. Wem wohl davor?

Der Schal, der auf der Brücke im Wind hing. Wer trug ihn gegen die beissende Biese um den Hals geschlungen? Wer friert heute ohne das Tuch?

Der rote, samtige Pulli, den ich vor dem Haus, in dem ich damals wohnte, auf der Mauer fand.

Textile; Gewobenes, Gewirktes. Textile, die sich um Menschen webten, auf Menschen wirkten. Textile, die sich um Menschen weben, auf Menschen wirken.

hManche von Ihnen werden ein Zuhause. Ich denke dabei an den Fliegerhut eines verstorbenen Grossvaters. Ich trage ihn auf dem Kopf und der Hut mich durch den Winter.

Ich mag Hüte. Ein kleines Dach über dem Kopf. Ein Zuhause eben.

In neues Jeans gehüllt, trete ich auf die fremden Strassen hinaus. Menschen gehen sie auf und ab. Kleider und Leute; sie machen sich in Wechselwirkung.

Da, am Strassenrand liegt eine schmale Trainerjacke. Ich denke an eine junge Frau. Eine, die in Bangladesch zwischen dutzend anderen jungen Frauen drei weisse Streifen auf die blaue Stoffjacke aufnäht. An eine junge Frau, die nach dem Workout verschwitzt friert, sich dieselbe Jacke hier im Westen überzieht.

Ich bin als eine der Passant:innen weiter durch die Strassen geschlendert. Mich mit jedem Schritt weitergedacht, einmal ostwärts und wieder zurück.

Ich biege in eine kleinere Strasse ab, hab mich verloren, dabei fällt mein Blick auf drei aneinandergereihter Schuhpaare. Ich sehe darin Kinderfüsse, sie spielen aufgeregt durch den Trubel der Stadt.

Der Herbst bläst und färbt zwischen den Häusern, ich vergrabe mich im Blau der Jeansjacke und bilde mir ein, ihn leise spüren zu können. Ihn, der die Jacke vor mir trug. Fast ist es so, als gingen wir gemeinsam, we walk together. Do you wanna walk with us too?

CMP – the colonial matrix of power

Sculpture in progress | second hand dress | made-in labels
2021 | idea & concept: barbara caveng | realisation: Céline Iffli-Naumann
installation: Alice Fassina | Céline Iffli-Naumann | Lina Tegtmeyer
showcase U7 Karl Marx Straße until July 31, 2021
©Alice Fassina

Greetings from Uganda

a letter from barbara caveng

100% silk, a flowing floral summer dress - only 50 cents and it's mine. In converted currency, of course. At Kalerwe market on the outskirts of Kampala, I pay two thousand Ugandan shillings. The trader laughs, then kisses the banknote. This,he euphorically announces to the crowd gathered around a pile of clothes, is the first earning of the day.After all, it is already 2.30 pm. I make my way to the centre of the market and, squeezing through the crowds of people, quickly settle on three T-shirts:

A light green Adidas shirt, a shirt that says 'Straight Outta Kindergarten' and another one, advertising for 'SeCla Gerüstbau' in embroidered lettering, including a German mobile phone number. The construction company's lettering stretches white on black across the entire back of the shirt. The seller insists that the Adidas shirt is worth 8000 shillings, i.e. 2 €, the other two change hands for 1.5 € each.

Made in Bulgaria, made in China, made in Honduras, made in Turkey.

Second-hand clothing gushes like a stream of lava over the city and surrounding countryside. Sellers queue up in front of somewhat inconspicuous looking warehouses, stacked to the top with 45 kg bales of clothing, waiting to receive their goods: 380 pieces each of women's outerwear, vacuum-packed, in a plastic bag.

They guarantee survival.

SecondHand Ware  | Kampala 2021

Imported from the US, Japan and Europe.

Since 2017, the government has been threatening to ban the import of second-hand clothing and has increased import duties. The 'Buy Uganda Build Uganda' campaign is designed to strengthen the local textile economy, the manufacturing sector as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Its focus is on sustainability. Nevertheless, 95% of cotton continues to be shipped abroad. 'The quality of the second-hand products is better than what we can currently produce', explains the wholesaler in front of his vacuum-packed clothing castle, 'we can't even afford to think about quality'. 'The quality of the second-hand products is better than what we can currently produce', explains the wholesaler in front of his vacuum-packed clothing castle, 'we can't even afford to think about quality'.

This is a statement those that sell and those that buy unanimously agree on.

As of 8 June, Uganda has been in its second lockdown. It's been 42 days. The pandemic poses a twofold threat to people's lives: death from a Corona infection combined with rapidly deteriorating living conditions – where hunger and poverty eventually join forces.

When doing the laundry,a woman tells me that, she worries about how her family is actually going to survive..

Doing the laundry here means washing by hand. Electricity is not always available and certainly never a given. The second-hand clothes have been laid out to dry on the lawn.

The lives of the people in Bangladesh, Vietnam, China or elsewhere on this planet, who are sewing around the clock to guarantee the continuous supply of fast fashion and the lives of those – for example in Uganda – who wear the shed-off clothing of European consumers who conveniently order them in online shops only to get rid of them again, are put at risk – due to global economic interests and thoughtless consumers.

The nation’s tailors are sitting at their pedal-powered sewing machines made by Singer or are working in the dim light of their rooms. The machine is a real beauty: Black with golden lettering and curved ornaments – an inheritance of British colonialism: the colonial past has seamlessly carried over into our postcolonial modern society. The second-hand clothes flooding Uganda and their resulting socioeconomic consequences damage the country and its local textile industry and manufacturers – which, without electricity, will never be able to compete with the international textile industry.

Mpigi and Kampala, Uganda | 06.29.2021

barbara caveng is currently - June 7 until July 18 - in Uganda as a participant in the ifa 'artist contacts' programme. Her work encompasses the trade of second-hand textiles and the practice of textile care, as well as the production of clothing by local tailors and designers.