“[You might say,] “I don’t agree. Hip-hop is no more than a good piece of music, and that’s it.” You may be absolutely correct on that level. But, there are some of us over here who say that we are philosophers. We are nation builders.We are civilization builders. We’ve been preaching this nonsense for twenty-three years. It’s time to shup-up now, and put your money where you mouth is. The Gospel of Hip Hop forms the nation. And, let me tell you, this is a great revolution. It’s a silent one. It’s a bloodless one. It’s going to be the greatest revolution in all of world history, when hip-hop realizes that it is its own thing.[...] This is the first time that innercity youth, Black, have actually made money on their own creativity. This is a testament to the end of slavery. This is a testament to the United States. Even from a linguistic point of view, we’re making money on our own language for the first time. That word, “nigga”—that’s a very financially rewarding word to hip-hop. For us to stop saying that word cuts into our money.”

Excerpt from the interview of KRS-One by Travis Atria in Wax Poetics Issue #41 (the hip-hop issue).

Lisson Gallery is pleased to announce their collaboration with Hussein Chalayan to create a new installation to be exhibited during a solo show, 8 September – 2 October 2010.

A film still from Hussein Chalayan’s “I Am Sad Leyla (Üzgünüm Leyla)” 2010. Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery.

Press release:

Chalayan says “My approach has always been interdisciplinary; the new work is an extension of this. There is a certain freedom to working in an art context that has allowed me to further explore the ideas that underpin my work”.

Chalayan has always been led by ideas, from his degree show at Central Saint Martin’s in 1993 to his catwalk presentation with thematic underpinnings, including his powerful meditation on migration in the show Afterwords in 2000, and his visceral recycling of fashion history in Manifest Destiny in 2003.

Both the new installation and an accompanying film piece centre on ideas which have continually fascinated the designer including cultural identity and performance as an art form. Chalayan’s pioneering approach and restless creativity means that he frequently transcends the boundaries between disciplines and this project is no different, drawing on themes from the fields of art, anthropology, music and design. In the exhibition Chalayan explores the concept of what constitutes both an art work and a garment while combining his characteristic elements of cultural acuity and performative panache.

The new installation explores music as a cultural form, creating a “disembodied experience” of a performance of a traditional Turkish folk composition by Sertab Erener, one of Turkey’s most successful female singers, accompanied by an Ottoman orchestra. The installation is made up of a nuanced combination of audio, film, sculpture and musical notation. Here Hussein examines the experience of music as layered, exploring both the sounds created by different instruments, and the diverse cultural influences on the composition, which include Persian poetry and Greek orthodox chanting.

Hussein Chalayan is one of Britain’s best known and most respected designers, and was the recipient of the Designer of the Year awards in 1999 and 2000. Chalayan represented Turkey in the Venice Biennale in 2005 and presented a critically acclaimed survey at London’s Design Museum in spring 2009, which later toured to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo and is currently on view at Istanbul Modern.

The project has emerged from a longstanding dialogue between the designer and Lisson Gallery’s Curatorial Director Greg Hilty who says: “Hussein Chalayan is rightly celebrated not just for his fashion but as one of London’s leading innovators in visual culture. His sensitive play with the history and poetic potential of wide-ranging cultural forms make him a natural fit for Lisson’s programme of exhibitions.”

Another film still from Hussein Chalayan’s “I Am Sad Leyla (Üzgünüm Leyla),” 2010. Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery.

ATTA GIRL by PARIS, LA

Tracklisting :

Heavenly—Atta Girl

Courtney Love—Don’t Mix the Colors

Scout Niblett—Drummer Boy

Sonic Youth—Becuz

Infamous Menagerie—Immediate Impound Zone

Ciara—Ride (feat. Ludacris)

Cold Cave—Theme From Tomorrowland

Chloé—one in other

Desire—Under Your Spell

Broadcast—Until Then

Cowboy Junkies—I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

JUNGLE LOVE by PARIS, LA

TRACKLISTING

1. Jungle Love (featuring MED & Guilty Simpson) — Jay Dee

2. Jingle Lion — Madlib

3. The Beauty Within — Dead Prez

4. Gold Jungle (Tribe) — Madlib

5. Wrong Love — Belle and Sebastian

6. Lion — John Fahey

7. You Got to Feed the Fire — Ann Peebles

8. African Walk (Zamunda) — Madlib

© Chanel Couture Fall 2010 photographed by Michael Hemy for PARIS, LA .

photography ©PARIS, LA.