Within the exhibition, the marching rhythm of the garments is periodically punctuated with projections of ‘supernatural daylight’. It imparts a sense of time and a deep exteriority. Natural light is one of the most moving dimensions of medieval churches. The installation plays on the preeminence of light within Catholic space. Each display in the sequence draws the historic art and architecture into dialogue with the fashions to create a durational experience with an emphasis on rhythm, narrative, and atmosphere. pedestal, platform, vitrine, etc.) with a coherent architectural language that lets them stand out from their context. They translate dimensional and material qualities into a family of objects (e.g. The displays respond to the specificities of both the art they display as well as the diverse conditions of the gallery sites. A custom display system stitches the many galleries together.
Met heavenly bodies series#
Visitors will discover the garments and accessories as a series of discrete interventions across 27 galleries spread over two locations. To facilitate this exchange, DS+R conjures the integrative and immersive framework of Catholic space. Contemporary designers often draw on the same pool of timeless Christian imagery as the Byzantine and medieval artists represented in The Met’s collection, creating potential for powerful resonances between modern garments and historic artworks. More than a stage or a container, Catholic space is the holistic integration of a multisensory aesthetic experience.įashion is a natural extension of this model, sculpting ineffable fantasies into a discourse on cultural inheritance-Catholicism included. Scripture, music, architecture, art, and decorative arts work in concert to engender collectivity, ritual, and devotion. Church liturgy is an immersive interweaving of diverse art forms. The Catholic imagination invoked by the show’s title suggests a constellation of images, a world of immanence in which the spiritual is accessible via the sensual. DS+R’s approach to this project examines the notion of ‘Catholic space’ to enable a dialogue between Fashion and medieval Christian art, the exhibit’s inceptive curatorial gesture.Ĭatholic space is an intricate mise-en-scene. Image credit: Gallery View, Pontaut Chapter House.The Costume Institute’s spring 2018 exhibition features Papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy (many of which have never been seen outside The Vatican) and fashions from the early twentieth century to the present, shown in the Byzantine and medieval galleries and at The Met Cloisters. They extend their gratitude to the Metropolitan Museum of Art-especially Jessica Glasscock, Mellissa Huber, Nancy Chilton, and Mika Kiyono-for making copies of the exhibition catalog available to the forum contributors and for providing the exhibition photography that accompanies their essays. Robert Orsi, Northwestern University, and Mona Oraby, TIF managing editor and Amherst College, cocurated this forum. In the essays that follow, contributors write on these and many other aspects of the exhibit, including its curation, content, and reception from interdisciplinary research standpoints. And as this exhibit came in the midst of what Robert Orsi in his introduction to the forum describes as “the worst crisis in the history of modern Catholicism,” issues of sexuality, aesthetics, and power are brought into view. While fascination with Catholic dress is not new, the exhibit raises many questions about the Vatican’s involvement in light of histories of American anti-Catholicism and philo-Catholicism. The papal objects are juxtaposed alongside baroque-style dresses from leading fashion houses-among them Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, and Dior-to demonstrate the longstanding influence of liturgical vestments on international designers. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s Spring 2018 exhibition, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, has been described as “a dialogue between fashion and medieval art from The Met collection to examine fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism.” Among the artifacts on display are dozens of pieces, including papal robes and jewels, never before seen outside the Sistine Chapel Sacristy.
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