Iris van Herpen’s cabinet of curiosities a source of inspiration
Cabinet of curiosities, ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Photograph: C Callistermon © QAGOMA / View full image
Fashion, art, design, science and technology collide in the world of endlessly innovative and internationally acclaimed Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen in ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’ at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) until 7 October 2024.
DELVE DEEPER: Journey through ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’
Van Herpen’s practice is characterised by material, philosophical and poetic inquiries that are shaped by her imagination, a deep love of reading and her insatiable curiosity. This contemporary cabinet of curiosities — or Kunstkammer, as they were originally known in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — distils many of the designer’s wide-ranging sources of inspiration.
Cabinet of curiosities
Cabinet of curiosities, ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA / View full image
Cabinet of curiosities, ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA / View full image
Philip Beesley ‘Noogenesis sculpture’ 2023
Philip Beesley, Canada b.1956 / Noogenesis sculpture 2023 installed in ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Expanded stainless steel, thermally formed acrylic, mylar, glass, liguids / © Philip Beesley / View full image
Interwoven among the various preparatory studies, garments, footwear, ear pieces, face jewellery, head adornments, belt and clutch accessories made in collaboration with other artists, architects and designers, are artworks, historical books, rare photographs, worldly artefacts and natural history specimens, including insects and corals selected by the designer from the Collections of QAGOMA and Queensland Museum.
This eclectic display reveals the designer’s love of travel and discovery, and her fascination with the world’s rich diversity. It offers a window into van Herpen’s inquiring mind and her insightful ability to generate connections between worlds.
Cabinet of curiosities
Cabinet of curiosities, ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA / View full image
Cabinet of curiosities, ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA / View full image
Cabinet of curiosities, ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Photograph: C Sanders © QAGOMA / View full image
Rinaldy Yunardi for Iris van Herpen ‘Sempiternity’ ear pieces 2023
Rinaldy Yunardi for Iris van Herpen, Indonesia b.1970 / sempiternity ear pieces, from the ‘Architectonics’ collection 2023 installed in ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Stainless steel electroplated in gold, Swarovski crystals / © Iris van Herpen atelier / View full image
Eichi Matsunaga for Iris van Herpen ‘Meiosis’ nail art 2021
Eichi Matsunaga for Iris van Herpen, Japan b.1982 / Meiosisnail art, from the ‘Earthrise’ collection 2021 installed in ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / 3D-printed polymers using stereolithography, electroplated in silver / © Iris van Herpen atelier / View full image
QAGOMA Collection
John & William Cary Cary’s New Celestial Globe 1816
John Cary, England c.1754-1835 / William Cary, England c.176 -1825 / Cary’s New Celestial Globe 1816 / Wood, metal, paper, brass / 30.5cm (diam.) x 92cm (height) / Purchased 2010. QAG Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / View full image
Eadweard Muybridge ‘Cockatoo in Flight’ 1887
Eadweard Muybridge, United States 1830-1904 / Cockatoo in Flight (plate 760 from ‘Animal Locomotion’ album) 1887 / Collotype on paper / 45.7 x 59.7cm / Purchased 2020 with funds from the Henry and Amanda Bartlett Trust through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / View full image
Queensland Museum Collection
Dodd Case No.39: Miscellaneous Orders including Odonata, Mantodea, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Neuroptera, etc. early 1900s and Dodd Case No.26: Moths including Sphingidae, Noctuidae, etc. early 1900s installed in ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, GOMA 2024 / Collection Queensland Museum / View full image
Watch | Journey through ‘Sculpting the Senses’
Watch | Iris van Herpen in conversation
‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’ / Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) Brisbane / 29 June to 7 October 2024, across the ground floor in The Fairfax Gallery (1.1), Gallery 1.2, and the Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery (1.3).
The exhibition is co-organised by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris and QAGOMA, Brisbane, based on an original exhibition designed by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.