Blue Jeans – Cult. Commerce. Creativity.
Museum of Cultural History Osnabrück, DE
10.04. – 10.07.2022
For more than 150 years, blue jeans have stood for a free and easy, unconventional lifestyle. The cliché of the maverick cowboy lives on, as does the legend of the revolutionary trousers donned by the ’68er generation. But jeans have in the meantime come to be associated with much more than just a cult following and a whiff of nostalgia. They also tell stories about society past and present – about a divided Germany, the 1968 protest movement, women’s emancipation, gender stereotypes and gay liberation. Famous artists have integrated blue jeans into their works, either exaggerating or critically questioning their symbolic power. Others have turned their talents to designing advertisements for the popular garment. The career of blue jeans can therefore tell us a great deal about fashion history, changing advertising strategies and art trends.
The Museumsquartier Osnabrück is devoting a multifaceted exhibition to this cultural history phenomenon, featuring works by renowned artists including Joseph Beuys, VALIE EXPORT, Wang Bing, Ian Berry, who have incorporated blue jeans into their art as a way to address questions of identity, the cult of objects and production issues. Accompanied by photographs, films and music, newspaper articles and magazines as well as original jeans and designer pieces, these artworks form a springboard for delving into the legends and stories surrounding blue jeans, revealing both their complexity and their role in the formation of identity.
More information:
Photo Kerstin Hemann
Lotter Straße 2
49078 Osnabrück
ww.museumsquartier-osnabrueck.de