presentation:

Fleece Afterlife: Plastic eating Fungus

Workshop with Maurizio Montalti and Conny Groenewegen for Saxion Hogeschool

17 Oct 2018

In the summer of 2017, fashion designer Conny Groenewegen wrapped Mediamatic's building in a giant knitted installation made of second hand fleece. With this, we visualised the enormous pollution caused in the fast fashion industry. A year after the highlight of the project at Mediamatic, Conny Groenewegen is still working on the afterlife. Together with designer Maurizio Montalti, seven students from Saxion Hogeschool went on a discovery and learnt all about plastic eating Fungi at our Clean Lab.

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Fleece for FAMA - The installation Fashion Machine is presented at Mediamatic in spring/summer 2017, a space invading installation of knitted flags made from fleece strips. Chiara Barraco

Afterlife

Is it possible to change pollution into something that is part of nature? The second hand fleece, used to knit the giant structures that wrapped Mediamatic's building, are mechanically recycled at Texperium, an innovation centre. This created an open structure that created a more positive environment for fungi that used fleece as their recourse. As such, five Fashion & Textile Technologies students and two Biology and medical laboratory students from Saxion Hogeschool researched the possibility of a new biodegradable product made from Fleece. 

Fashion Machine

The fashion industry is a beautiful but polluting business. With the Fashion Machine, Designer Conny Groenewegen set out to visualize its enormity. A million microplastics per washing, 6000 sweaters, and 570 square meters of knitting. After we took down the fleece at Mediamatic's building, the pollution is not over. Read in on the facts here, and see for yourself. 

Conny Groenewegen

Conny Groenewegen is a fashion designer who zooms in on the issues associated with industrial production and labor processes. Her research traces back to the origins of methods: revealing and re-establishing the sparkle of manufacturing before the fashionable takes over. She sheds a new light on production, whilst searching for what is essential and appropriate for organizations and brands.