About
Katharina Spitz
First of all, I am a craftswoman. In my work I contemplate the human body, and the knitting and untangling of our social fabric in matter, form and spirit.
Textile crafting is where I come from and how I started my creative path that developed into a critical artistic practice. The body is my canvas. Fashion, for me, is first of all, a way of being in the world; it interprets and shapes our social networks. I choose fashion as my medium, not just because I love handiwork, but also because I am convinced that we can learn about ourselves and our society when we observe our fashions. Our clothing fashions and other ways of doing things. So truly, I am most of all an observer. For me it is important to question through my work what it means to be human in a certain moment in time and space.
Fashion enables me, not only to address conflicts and thoughts on an abstract level, but also to make abstract ideas more tangible. My work is mostly inspired by sociological, existential and feminist themes. The material I am using is not self-evidently textile. I communicate with and through the material, which means that my designs often cannot be implemented purely in textile form. The process of finding and developing materials is an integral part of my design process that is not very solution-oriented. What I try to do is to engage in a dialogue with a certain theme; both on an intellectual and artistic level. Here I follow my conviction that there is no fashion without poetry. So it is equally a poetic and emotional examination of social issues that, in my opinion, need extra attention. I focus on certain conflicts of our time and seek to redefine relationships with self and society, searching for new perspectives to pressing issues.
In the past I worked on topics such as the concept of play, hierarchies within memory culture, the passing of things, ageism and identity. Within my design process I aim to find a tactile form to the questions I raise. Through my performances, dressmaking and designs I am trying to open up new perspectives and ways of being in a world that is suffering from pollution, misogyny, inequality and deep-seated alienation.
Vita
// Curatorial Residency, New Narratives, Fashionclash Festival Maastricht (NL), // apr. 2024 – nov.2024
// Design Residency Fonds for Young Design, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg // apr. 2023 – oct.2023
// Marlou Breuls Creative Studio (House of Rubber), Studiomanager and Designer // jan. 2022 – apr. 2023
// costume design for Sean Hannan’s work ‘LUCK’ exhibited at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, When things are beings // 11. 2022
// textile crafting advise and making of textile sculpture ‘head of medusa’ by Susanna Inglada, exhibited at Papertrails Kunstlinie, Almere, // oct. 2022 - jan. 2023
// Marlou Breuls Creative Studio // Design Intern // sep. 2020 – feb. 2021
// Student at Berlin University of the Arts [Udk], Institute for experimental Textile and Fashion Design // BA Fashion Design // sep. 2017 – oct. 2021
// Tutor at Berlin University of the Arts [Udk], Institute for experimental Textile and Fashion Design // teaching dressmaking and design implementation // sep. 2019 – mrt. 2021
// womenswear dressmaker at Dutch National Opera Amsterdam, crafting the soloists costumes // mrt. 2017 – jul.2017
// artisanal skills, developed during a three year apprenticeship at Pio O‘kan Couture, Düsseldorf, an Haute Couture salon for exclusive high-end womenswear. // sep. 2013 – aug. 2016
Exhibitions
Group Exhibition ‘Für Alle! Demokratie neu gestalten‘
Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (Germany)//from 30.05.-13.10.2024
Solo Exhibition ‘Forget Me Not’, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (Germany), curated by and showing work from Katharina Spitz // from 27.10.-10.12.2023
Exhibition of Lin Woldendorp at Pllek, Amsterdam,from 09/2022 featuring “In the Face of Loss” garments
Exhibition of Lin Woldendorp at Sissy’s Expo, Amsterdam, from 06/2022 featuring “In the Face of Loss” garments
Schau21, 30/10/2021 Graduationshow featuring ‘Play Harder’ at Konzersaal UdK Berlin
‘Bootcamp: Humans Only’, 15/09/2019 at HKW Berlin
‘Utopias of digital Physicality’, 15/09/2019, showing SDF at Robert-Koch-Forum
Algomech Festival 18.-20./05/2019, Group Exhibition, ‘Rituals of Care’ in collaboraboration with Frederik Britzlmair and Camilla Volbert