The Rustle of Touch – a breeze
Deutsches Textilmuseum Krefeld, DE
13.02.- 19.06.2022

The first exhibition in the german textile Museum Krefeld 2022 presents an extraordinary combination of artistic exploration. It shows an installation by the Dutch artist Ellen Korth combined with selected objects from the German Textile Museum.

This was preceded by the publication by Ellen Korth entitled “THE RUSTLE OF TOUCH” last year. Both formats – book and exhibition – combine photo and book art in a congenial way.

Artistic motifs were formed by underwear items from the extensive collection of Castle Twickel in the Netherlands, which preserves everyday clothing from aristocratic possessions, especially from the 19th century. Ellen Korth entered this closed world and created an installation for the Krefeld show in which photographs of underwear from Twickel play the main role. They convey a strong sensual appeal through the selected image detail, through the drapery of the laid textiles and the fine color gradations. In her own way, the artist transposes the erotic element that is always associated with items of lingerie into photography and places these in a dynamic interrelationship with other media in the exhibition – including original lingerie from the Twickel Collection and objects from the Deutsches Textilmuseum Krefeld.

In a particularly subtle way, Ellen Korth presents individual items of underwear as airy and translucent individual objects with a history. Printed on partly large-format, deliberately creased paper and presented as free positions in space, the pictures unfold an almost sculptural effect and give hope for a breeze that will make them rustle and underline the delicate effect of the objects.

The absence of the human body and corporeality, as well as the anonymity of the wearers, which characterize Ellen Korth's photos, do not characterize the presented objects from the Krefeld collection. Here, with the help of figurines - lifeless busts - the physical presence of underwear worn close to the body is consciously attempted to tell a story of each piece.