Mediated materiality and mearning: curating experience through the body and dress

This chapter draws on an analysis of the exhibition Fashion and Performance; Materiality, Meaning, Media an evolving exhibition curated by Jessica Bugg and Anna Nicole Ziesche. Most recently developed for the Design Hub, Melbourne in February 2015. Through contemporary moving image based works, material artefacts, garments and performance the exhibition exposed artistic approaches that embrace aesthetics and form, spatial concerns, bodily narratives and process as performance. The problems of exhibiting performance film, dress and lived experience are discussed here through the research based curatorial process and the chapter uncovers how embodied communication strategies were used to re animate aspects of meaning from the original interaction between the performer and the garment. This exposes how audiences can be engaged on an experiential level through their own bodily knowledge, kinaesthetic, sensorial engagement and knowledge of wearing. The research addresses the body as a communicative and experiential site that positions clothing and the body of the performer and viewer as central to communication, connecting designer, wearer and viewer in an experiential exchange in the performative space of the exhibition. The chapter presents an analysis of the research lead curatorial approach that communicates 'dress film' through performance based strategies and bodily knowledge's of dress. Through analysis of audience surveys discussed in relation to writings on performance and technology, interactive art, and embodiment the chapter exposes how the 'mediated experience' of clothing curated through this specific exhibition has been extended for the viewer/ participant. The research suggests that it is possible to develop an immersive and experiential engagement through the mediated context of film and exhibition as opposed to creating a secondary or diluted experience.