designboom · Creativity & design

Issey Miyake Translates Matisse Cut-Outs into Clothing and Choreography

HOMME PLISSÉ ISSEY MIYAKE presented its OPEN STUDIO event at Tate Modern, transforming Henri Matisse's "The Snail" into a performance blending fashion and dance.

The performance began with the audience entering a space covered in felt, where a pleated garment inspired by Matisse's "The Snail" lay on the floor. Performers revealed more clothing hidden beneath the felt, animating the paper cut-outs into wearable forms using the brand's signature pleating technique.

A key element was "One One One," a format where dancers created live choreography in response to individual audience members through eye contact, embedding spectators directly into the performance structure.

The spatial design of Tate Modern's South Tank allowed dancers to move freely among guests, shifting attention and blurring the lines between observer and observed. This setup facilitated the intimate, responsive nature of the "One One One" encounters.

As the performance progressed, dancers changed garments, scattering the pieces across the stage, mimicking the loose forms in Matisse's studio. The original image gradually dispersed throughout the space.

Towards the end, performers revealed a full-scale reconstruction of "The Snail" made from the pleated garments, bringing the fragmented image back together on the floor. Dancers then moved around this central composition.

The event concluded by shifting the audience's focus from individual participation to a shared view of the assembled artwork, integrating the transition between interaction and observation into the piece itself.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.