In the immersive exhibition "The Mall of Anonymous", fashion designer, musician and artist Shayne Oliver, co-founder of the label Hood by Air, shows his past work and his new and future activities. Visitors are invited to discover the designs of this pioneering designer who shaped an entire era.
"The Mall of Anonymous" marks the beginning of a new chapter in Oliver's work and career.
From a young age, Oliver embraced nightlife and dance music, becoming a protégé of ballroom legend Willy Ninja and joining various houses. His interests and musical tastes have since expanded, but his work remains rooted in and dedicated to queer culture. In this, he is not the advocate or spokesperson for a new transsexual, politically awake and outspoken generation, but its embodiment.
For the exhibition, the Schinkel Pavillon will be transformed into a walk-in sculpture over two and a half floors. One part of each exhibition represents one of the three brands that Shayne Oliver Group will launch by March 2024. The luxury fashion label Shayne Oliver, the collaborative, project-based label Anonymous Club, and As Seen by Shayne Oliver (ASSO), a label for upscale and refined basics. The collections are presented and exhibited through photographs, films and samples.
Shopping mall is the North American term for a large indoor shopping centre that houses various department stores and shops. Many of the malls in North America are now in danger of extinction or have already closed and have become so-called "dead malls". Yet shopping malls remain a mirror of American consumerism.
They are complex entities in which social hierarchies, the rules of attraction and economic power were defined.
The mall was the place where you bought new sneakers or an ice cream, found your first teenage love or got beat up. It was at the same time American promise and the hell in which one grows up and in which monsters cavort. The design of the exhibition refers to the typical architecture of malls - and to that labyrinthine place where ideas are born.
"The Mall of Anoymous" presents an ironic look at the characteristic infrastructure of the consumer world, its historical legacy and its decline (the malls of the present are digital, which means no more ice cream dripping on the new sneakers either). But the exhibition also expresses Oliver's joy and ability to juggle the conceptual and the banal in a way that does justice to both.
Oliver's work is radically personal, reflecting his struggles, passions and cultural background. Precisely because of its unique and autobiographical angle, it has shaped fashion and culture of the 21st century and anticipated many positions. In the meantime, Shayne Oliver has come to the realisation that not every T-shirt has to unite all the issues that are on his mind at the moment, it can also simply be a good and unusual piece of clothing.
"The answer to a question", as he likes to put it.
Additional information
Opening hours
Thursday and Friday 14-19 h
Saturday and Sunday 11-19 h