Saturday, November 10, 2018

A. Human: Collaboration on the Future of the Human Form


Fashion is about self-expression, and people often love to speculate about what the future of this industry will look like. Simon Huck teamed up with other creatives he has met through his work as a PR executive to create his vision of this future. A. Human is a new take on fashion where body modifications are used to enhance the body instead of clothes. These body modifications are not the ones of typical cosmetic surgeries but instead have more of a whimsical spin. The team purposely does not work upon insecurities that already exist and already have remedies in cosmetic surgery. This intersection between art and fashion is a celebration of freedom and being able to present yourself to the world in any way one may choose without the restrictions of the past.

Produced by Society of Spectacle, a live entertainment storytelling brand founded by Simon Huck, the A. Human exhibit displays these fashion pieces with the help of theatrical director Michael Countes, makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench, and creative director Nicola Formichetti. Simon Huck is very excited to be looking toward a more futuristic world with his co-creators since he credits the diversity of the pieces to each of his collaborators’ various artistic backgrounds. Isamaya Ffrench drew on her history as a dental nurse and wore modified teeth to the exhibit’s opening. Each core member of the team has been involved in fashion for art for at least 5 years, so their respective contact lists are filled with other creative peers. These 4 creators and their networks of people exemplify Milgram’s idea of small world clusters. The success on this exhibit was dependent on the input from several different industries; namely fashion, social media, PR, and art. Huck and his team were able reach out to different hordes to ensure every aspect of the exhibit would go off without a hitch, from the brainstorming stage to the final invite list for the exhibit’s opening night. The collaborators managed to “productively organize the distribution of creative material in an art world as well as promote the ability and desire of artists to take risks collaboratively on creating something new,” which Brian Uzzi and Jarrett Spiro define as the concept of small worlds in their journal article Collaboration Creativity: The Small World Problem. All of the creatives endeavor the blur the line between reality and fantasy while also giving other creatives the tools to create their own products and photos.    


The pieces are actually made from silicone and produced in Atlanta. Huck used his celebrity friends to advertise some pieces before the opening. Kim Kardashian shook the internet with a necklace implanted into her skin that lit up in-time with her heart beat. Chrissy Teigen rocked some wings that seemed to be growing from her chest. Queer Eye’s Tan France sported a necklace made to look like a combination of ruffles and crystals that looked as though to be growing from his neck. The actual exhibit itself is several staged rooms with live models showcasing the modifications. In order to emphasize the idea of self-expression the team made customizable options for a heart using a computer program in the beating heart room. The human mannequins have been choreographed by Michael Counts to model the pieces as well as move to show off how they might be integrated into normal life in the future. Additionally, there is a fusing with nature that occurs. This is shown throughout the exhibit with models standing in boxes of dirt as well as having dirt all around the exhibit. There is also a mirror room to emphasize the individuality of all the people that come through the space. Other pieces on display included shoes that look as if they are growing from the person’s feet; pointed, blue shoulders; and webbed hands. Huck and his collaborators displayed pieces at an art exhibit in SoHo from September 5th through 30th.




The team’s motivation for this project was to allow a more optimistic or at least neutral view of the world’s future. Their remedy for the current state of the world: a new way of self-expression to look forward to. Fashion has long been more than just clothes you wear. It has involved into the way one shows and covers their body in addition to how one presents themselves. This immersive exhibit is more about the experience than anything else. The creatives want to pose this new take on fashion in such a way that the conversation about self-expression continues even after you leave the exhibit.









4 comments:

  1. This is so interesting! I had heard about this project, but learning more about their backgrounds and the intention behind the pieces was really cool. I love the idea of having a modification or piece that doesn't try to cover up an insecurity, but adds something unique, like the shells on their ankles!

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  2. After seeing Kim K's post on social media about her necklace I had no idea who was behind the creation or what it was about. I find it so interesting that Huck and his team found a new way for jewelry to complement and modify the human body. The pieces seem almost futuristic and I appreciate how they are meant to enhance body parts rather than hide them.

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  3. Its interesting that this group of creatives used things they had collected from totally unrelated professions, like Ismaya French did, and took them into a completely unrelated field. Reminds me very much of the band Tool, whose songwriter collected information in his vigorous schooling and applied it to his music in a very creative way, much like this team does with fashion

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  4. We've had the techniques and technology to do these kinds of temporary body modifications for years, though they've almost solely been used for movie makeup and costumes meant to present the otherworldly and monstrous. I love that this group of creatives is working to make these kinds of, frankly, really cool and fun forms of self-expression make their way into the mainstream, really blazing their way into the field of commercial temporary body modification, a field that barely exists. In your post, you discuss various celebrities that are getting the concept out there and how the team is even making it a point to show how such modifications can worn while going through daily life, as they showed with their human mannequins. I had  no idea this sort of thing existed before I read your post, but I will be sure to be on the lookout for more now. 

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