I cannot believe I’ve been a board member at the Dallas Contemporary for just over 5 years, holding strong with a couple other long-term members I’ve supported the organisation through thick and thin: tumultuous, controversial, sad, and super-exciting. Whilst many in Dallas choose to focus on the negative of a fledgeling institution, I only choose to reflect on the positive, and all the amazing triumphs and successes that this edgy institution has provided the Dallas community. Exhibitions by artists such as Robb Pruitt, Jennifer Rubell, Inez Van Lamsveerde + Vinoodh Matadin, Juergen Teller and Erza Petronio, Erwin Wurm, Gabriel Dawe, Joseph Havel, and K8 Hardy.

Walter Van Beirendonck, photo by Ronald Stoops.

Walter Van Beirendonck, photo by Ronald Stoops.

So, what’s next? During the Dallas Art Fair frenzy, next Friday the Dallas Contemporary will open its latest exhibition by Belgium menswear designer Walter Van Beirendonck—coined the Cultural Ambassador of Flanders.

 

Known as one of the Antwerp Six, a group of avant-garde designers that graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp: Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dirk Van Saena and Marina Yee (this group doesn’t include Martin Margiela, but he was cut from the same cloth, so to speak), who all showcased together at London Fashion Week in 1987.

Walter Van Beirendonck, photo by Ronald Stoops.

Walter Van Beirendonck, photo by Ronald Stoops.

Exhibition sponsors The Joule Hotel will host a sneak peak prior to the exhibition opening at the Dallas Contemporary. You can meet Walter Van Beirendonck at the new boutique TRAFFIC LA on Main Street on Thursday from 9:30-11am, and watch him create a temporary storefront installation.  The window display will feature styles from his two new collections LUST NEVER SLEEPS and SILENT SECRETS, with photographs shot by Dutch photographer Ronald Stoops as the backdrop. The Spring/Summer 2013 video will be featured on a large screen inside the boutique, and you can watch it here.

Coincidentally, every year Beirendonck has collaborated with an artist, and in ’84 Cindy Sherman was his first artistic collaboration, which is the current exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art. Culturally perfect!

The Walter Van Beirendonck exhibition will include thirty-six mannequins on rotating platforms and will run from April 12 through August 19, 2013, at the Dallas Contemporary.  If you want to sit and Chit / Chat with Walter, then visit the Dallas Contemporary on Saturday, April 13 at 4 pm. See you there!