STYLERANKING GERMANY
credits
by Cosima
translated by Alison
Link:
stylranking.de
sturmfederprojects presents Hamansutra’s “Artificial Skin Collection 2060″: Bizarre Visions of the Future
Our ancestors would never have guessed that one day we would be riding in automobiles or making phone calls. Today, we send men into space and roam virtual space on the Internet. Thanks to mobile phones, we can be reached by anyone at any time and mobile Internet enables us to tell the world what we’re doing at all times by using platforms like Facebook or Twitter. There’s no such thing as private life any more. And even when we’re out and about and not using our phones, we’re under observation by closed-circuit cameras in city centers. Artist hamansutra took these developments of the modern world as his inspiration for a thought-provoking vision of the future that employs aspects of fashion.
Women as birthing machines? A distinct possibility in hamansutra’s world of the future.
As we see it, fashion and its trends take a back seat with the artist Haman Alimardani, known as hamansutra. In his new lookbook “Artificial Skin Collection 2060,” hamansutra confronts a world in which technology determines existence. The fashion he presents is primarily designed for expediency. Transparency is evidently the trend. In this artist’s vision, human beings no longer appear human, but have become machines that are required to function – and this function is underlined by the pared-down style of the outfits presented.
Birth becomes a minor matter – when all you need to do is open a zipper along the stomach.
Women justify their existence by giving birth - and in hamansutra’s future world, this will not be the fruit of love, but the consequence of duty. In this future scenario love, like other emotions, appears to have no place – a prediction glaringly presented by Haman Alimardani in his new lookbook. The pregnant woman of tomorrow wears a transparent suit in which birth apparently becomes a minor matter; when the bump has reached maturity, all she needs to do is to open the zipper of the skin-tight suit and a new “human machine” is released into the world.
A mobile phone, what more do you need?
Here too, fashion seems to retreat into the background, to be replaced in the focus of attention by details that, used here on the human body, make a strange and unsettling impression. Again, the transparency of this skin-tight suit is striking. The only accessory is a belt with a cellphone, ensuring permanent accessibility. Perhaps the businesswoman of the future? We can only hope that images like these never become reality. A strange detail is the use of hands to cover the woman’s most intimate areas – an extremely disquieting and even repellent effect, and yet the only thing protecting the woman’s nakedness from the gaze of her environment.
In hamansutra’s abstract people appear almost to be robots.
In this image, we are forced to wonder exactly what is concealed under the outlines of the tight white suit. We cannot know, but the numbers on the suit and the shapes which show through seem to be anything but natural or human. Once again, the pared-down style of the outfit forces the human wearer into the background: our attention is directed at the shapes and striking features visible as outlines under the suit.
Noticeable shapes under the “artificial skin” are designed to make us think.
A sharp contrast to the other images is given by a model completely enveloped in a blue and brown robe. Perhaps privacy does have a place in the world of the future.
The only outfit which does not make use of transparency.
“I want to show people in my designs, not only their outlines. They’re like brief films in which imagination and practical instructions are interwoven to generate change”, explains Haman Alimardani. In our view, his designs are wildly extreme both as an artistic venture and as social critique – but nevertheless, or perhaps actually for that reason, extremely successful. However, the images should be regarded as metaphors and thought-provoking impulses, not as literal visions of the future. The world is unquestionably becoming more and more modern and transparent: yet we find that the aspect of fashion in Hamansutra’s work is given minor priority. We cannot imagine that images such as these will be seen on the streets in many years to come.
For anyone who would like to see more of these bizarre works:
the new lookbook is receiving its official premiere in Hamansutra’s Munich showroom. It is presented by “sturmfederprojects”, a company that presents artists and their work. “Artificial Skin Collection 2060″ is available from selected art and design stores and bookstores.
