Tihana Mikša : Mad as a Hatter

18. 4.

29. 4. 2019.

Tihana Mikša Mad as a Hatter / Šašavi klobučar SAMOSTALNA IZLOŽBA OGLAVLJA OD PUSTA / INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITION OF HEADWEAR OUT OF FELT

Predgovor SILVA KALČIĆ

“Mad as a hatter” je recentna kolekcija Tihane Mikše, “kavalkada” kapa i šešira formiranih prema pet različitih načela.

Izrađeni su od netkanog materijala, pusta, čohe ili filca kao sinonima – podrazumijevajući preplitanje i fiksiranje vunenih vlakana kao re-kreaciju tradicionalnih manufakturnih postupaka, svojevrsni hommage starim obrtima koji ubrzano nestaju pod pritiskom komodifikacije prostora grada. Najstariji poznati primjerci pusta datiraju iz oko 700. godine stare ere, pronađeni u grobnicama sibirskih nomada koji su ga koristili za izradu odjeće, sedla i za šator; gotovo svega artificijelnog u njihovoj okolini; riječ je o tri razine i mjerila uporabnih objekata. U 18. stoljeću šeširi su bili obavezni dio muške nošnje u javnom prostoru, izrađivani primarno pustenjem ili filcanjem; do 1850. godine muškarac nosi pusteni šešir i u interijeru.

Izraz “lud kao šeširdžija“ korišten je u 18. i do konca 19. stoljeća za klobučare koji su koristili živin nitrat u procesu pustenja. Činili su to do saznanja danas notorne činjenice, da taj tekući metal razara živčani sustav osobe koja ga udiše te će je snaći halucinacije i psihotična stanja.

Najpoznatiji takav The Hatter jest lik zapeo u vremenu koje je uvijek pet sati poslijepodne, kontinuirano je vrijeme za čaj u pričama za djecu Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland i Through the Looking Glass Lewisa Carrolla. Referenca “dječji” je važna podtema kolekcije Tihane Mikše budući da “jajolikim” i priljubljenim uz glavu, kapama s motivom krugova varirane veličine u

raznim nijansama akromatske sive kreira lik žene-“djeteta”, točnije neo-artdecoovske “garçonne”, žene-„dječaka“ (druga razina citatnosti je postmoderna kalotna forma kape, prema modi 1980-ih godina) u smislu neutralizacije kodova zavodljivosti njezina izgleda. Imaginarij bajki je težak, one su, poput prvih verzija bajki temeljenih na folklornoj predaji braće Grimm, surove i često temeljene na apsurdu.

Tihana Mikša pust (protežni materijal u djelima Josepha Beuysa i Roberta Morrisa) rabi radi transformabilnosti tog materijala, odnosno jednostavnog preoblikovanja tekstilne plohe u trodimenzionalni objekt, i potom zadržavanja forme. Kape i šeširi Mad as a hatter mogu se sagledati kao dvije kolekcije, modnog dizajna utilitarnih ženskih kapa minimalističkih formi, modeliranim plisiranjem, nabiranjem i omatanjem. Kape su visokouporabnenosive, izvrsnih toplinskih svojstava te površinske hidrofobnosti što su svojstva inherentna korištenom materijalu. Kasnije nastaje kolekcija šešira, eksperimentalnih objekata-oglavlja asocijativnih formi. U obradi površine šešira, autorica koristi tiskarske paste raznih efekata, također kukuruzni škrob koji generira teksturu papira, engl. „paperlike look“ odnosno pastiš papier-mâché tehnike. Tihana Mikša koristi historicistički pristup tehnologiji (ona je „kitničar“) i postupak resemantizacije tradicionalne forme kape-šešira-oglavlja u eksperimentalnom izmicanju modnog dizajna u područje sociologije ukusa, i na koncu umjetnosti proširenih medija.

Preface SILVA KALČIĆ

“Mad as a Hatter” is the name of the recent collection of Tihana Mikša, a cavalcade of caps and hats formed on five different principles. They are made out of non-woven material, out of felt, meaning the bonding and fixing of wool fibres, a recreation of traditional small-scale manufacturing processes, a kind of tribute to the old crafts that are rapidly vanishing under the pressure of the geographical space of the city being treated as commodity. The oldest known examples of felt date back to about 700 BC, and were found in the graves of Siberian nomads, who used it for the making of their clothing, saddles and tents; i.e. for almost everything artificial in their surrounds; three levels and scales of use articles. In the 19th century hats were an obligatory part of male attire in public space, and were made primarily by felting. Up to 1850, men wore felt hats inside as well.

The expression “mad as a hatter” was used in the 18th and up to the end of the 19th century for hatters who used mercury (II) nitrate in the process of making felt. This was done until they became aware of what is today a notorious fact, that this liquid metal breaks down the nervous system of a person who breathes it in, who will be afflicted by hallucinations and psychotic states. The best known such Hatter is a figure stuck in a time when it is always five in the afternoon, always time for tea, in the children’s stories Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass of Lewis Carroll.

The mention of “children’s” here is an important sub-theme of the collection of Tihana Mikša since she creates, with egg-shaped

Tihana Mikša: Mad as a Hatter / Šašavi klobučar

and close fitting caps, with a motif of circles varying in sizes in various shades of achromatic grey, a figure of a woman-child, a neo-Art Déco “garçonne”, a gamine (another level of citationality is the post-modern calotte form of cap, after the fashion of the 1980s) in the sense of the neutralisation of the codes of seductiveness of its appearance. The imaginary of fairy tales is a hard one; they, like the first versions of fairy tales, founded on the folklore traditions of the Brothers Grimm, are harsh and frequently founded on absurdity.

Tihana Mikša uses felt (an extensible material used in the works of Joseph Beuys and Robert Morris) because of the ability of this material to be transformed, for the simple re-forming of a textile plane into a three-dimensional object, the newly acquired shape being retained. The Mad as a Hatter caps and hats can be seen as two collections.

There is the fashionable design of utilitarian women’s caps with minimalist forms, modelled by pleating, folding and wrapping.

The caps are highly usable and wearable, have excellent thermal qualities and the surface is highly water repellent, characteristics inherent to the material used. The hat collection was created later, a set of experimental objects-cum-headdresses of associative shapes. In working the surfaces of the hats, the artist uses printing pastes of various effects, as well as cornstarch, which generates a papery texture, a paperlike look, as English has it, as well as a pastiche of the papier-mâché technique. Tihana uses a historicist approach to technology (she is a “milliner”) as well as the process of re-semanticising the traditional forms of caps-hats-headpieces in an experimental slippage from fashion design into the area of sociology of taste, and, ultimately, into the art of the expanded media.

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Šašavi klobučar / Mad as a hatter “Jer tu smo ti svi ludi. Ja sam luda. I ti si luda.”

“Kako znaš da sam ja luda?” upita Alisa.

“Da nisi”, reče Mačka, “ne bi bila tu.”

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad.

You’re mad.” ”How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

(L. Carroll)

Slon / Elephant ”...ali prekrasan” “...but gorgeous”

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Tihana Mikša: Mad as a Hatter / Šašavi klobučar

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Salvatore (Edvin Biuković) “everything’s dissolving, babe, according to plan” (N. Cave)

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Tihana Mikša: Mad as a Hatter / Šašavi klobučar

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Bik / Bull “Djeca moraju praštati odraslima.”

“Children should always show great forbearance toward grown-up people.”

(A. de Saint-Exupery)

Žaba / Frog Dendrobates tinctorius ‘Azureus’ – najotrovnija žaba na svijetu Dendrobates tinctorius ‘Azureus’ – the most toxic frog in the world

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Tihana Mikša: Mad as a Hatter / Šašavi klobučar

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Ruža / Rose “...ako me pripitomiš, život će mi biti kao da ga je obasjalo sunce.” “...if you tame me, it will bee as if the sun came to shine on my life.”

Ovan / Ram

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Tihana Mikša: Mad as a Hatter / Šašavi klobučar

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Tihana Mikša: Mad as a Hatter / Šašavi klobučar

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Biografija

Biography

NAKLADNIK / PUBLISHER:

PROSTOR ODRŽAVANJA IZLOŽBE / EXHIBITION SPACE:

ULUPUH – Hrvatska udruga likovnih umjetnika primijenjenih umjetnosti, Preradovićeva 44/1, Zagreb

Galerija ULUPUH, Tkalčićeva 14, Zagreb Tel: ++385 1 4813 746 galerija-ulupuh@zg.t-com.hr

ZA NAKLADNIKA / FOR THE PUBLISHER:

Tihana Mikša Perković magistrirala je na Diplomskom studiju Tekstilni i modni dizajn, modul Dizajn tekstila, Tekstilo-tehnološkog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Član ULUPUH-a (Hrvatska udruga likovnih umjetnika primijenjenih umjetnosti) postaje 1997., HZSU-a (Hrvatska zajednica samostalnih umjetnika) 2002. te HDD-a (Hrvatsko dizajnersko društvo) 2011. godine.

Od 1994. kontinuirano se bavi modnim dizajnom. Od 1997. godine se bavi ilustracijom.

Do sada je sudjelovala na 11 modnih revija u zemlji i inozemstvu, 40 skupnih izložbi i 2 samostalne u zemlji i inozemstvu.

Surađuje na kazališnim i filmskim kostimografijama, te u izradi lutaka.

Izrađuje ilustracije za hrvatske nakladnike, povremeno osmišljava i vodi radionice za djecu i odrasle.

Bavi se manufakturnom proizvodnjom malih serija i unikatne odjeće, kao i istraživanjem eksperimentalne mode i umjetnošću tekstila.

U svojstvu asistenta provodi 8 godina na Tekstilno-Tehnološkom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu.

Tihana Mikša Perković took a master’s degree in the postgraduate course of textile and fashion design, textile design module, from the Textile Technology Faculty of Zagreb University.

www.tihanamiksa.com

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ORGANIZATOR IZLOŽBE / ORGANIZER:

UREDNICI / EDITORS:

ULUPUH – Hrvatska udruga likovnih umjetnika primijenjenih umjetnosti, Preradovićeva 44/1, Zagreb Tel: ++385 1 4552 595 ulupuh@zg.t-com.hr www.ulupuh.hr

Tihana Mikša Bella Rupena PREDGOVOR / PREFACE:

Silva Kalčić PRIJEVOD NA ENGLESKI / ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY:

She became a member of ULUPUH (Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts) in 1997, of HZSU (Croatian Freelance Artists Association) in 2001 and of HDD (Croatian Designers Association) in 2011.

Since 1994 she has been continuously engaged in fashion design. Since 1997 she has also been into illustration. She has taken part in 11 fashion shows at home and abroad, 40 collective shows and had two solo exhibitions at home and abroad.

Graham McMaster GRAFIČKO OBLIKOVANJE I PRIPREMA / DESIGN AND LAYOUT:

Lidija Novosel FOTOGRAFIJE / PHOTOGRAPHS:

Tihana Mikša TISAK / PRINT:

STEGA TISAK d.o.o., Zagreb; ožujak 2019.

NAKLADA / PRINT RUN:

300 primjeraka ISBN:

978-953-327-159-0

Izložba je realizirana uz financijsku potporu Ministarstva kulture RH i Grada Zagreba / Exhibition has been put on with the support of Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and Zagreb City Council for Culture

KUSTOSICA IZLOŽBE / EXHIBITION CURATOR:

She designs costumes for films and theatrical productions, and collaborates in making toys and puppets. She does illustrations for Croatian publishers, and from time to time devises and runs workshops for children and adults.

She is occupied with the hand making of small batches of and one-off clothes, and with the exploration of experimental fashion and textile art.

She has been an instructor at the Textile Technology Faculty of the University of Zagreb for eight years.

Tihana has won three prizes for her work.

Dobitnica je 3 nagrade za svoj rad.

Ivana Bakal, predsjednica ULUPUH-a

Silva Kalčić LIKOVNI POSTAV IZLOŽBE / EXHIBITION LAYOUT:

Tihana Mikša Jakša Perković

ZAHVALE / THANKS TO:

Davorka Horvat Damir Horvat

“so bring it on Bring it on Every little tear Bring it on Every useless fear Bring it on All your shattered dreams And i’ll scatter them into the sea into the sea” (N. Cave)