HOST: Tenant of Culture
HOST: Tenant of Culture
January 31 – August 3, 2025
This is the first U.S. museum exhibition of Tenant of Culture, a moniker for the artistic practice of Hendrickje Schimmel (b. 1990, Arnhem, Netherlands; lives and works in Amsterdam). Originally trained in fashion design and textiles, Schimmel brings this experience to bear in her material explorations of the fashion industry, particularly the volume and speed at which it produces, consumes, and discards. Using items often sourced secondhand, Schimmel deconstructs and reassembles garments—often combining elements from multiple pieces and transforming them into new sculptural works that transcend their original form.
HOST: Tenant of Culture presents newly commissioned works by the artist alongside a selection of recent works in an installation that explores the tension between seductive, consumer-facing displays and spaces less visible in the fashion industry, such as production factories and fulfillment centers. Tenant of Culture’s assemblages reflect the patchwork nature of globalized production, where materials and labor from disparate locations create garments that are discarded as quickly as they are produced. For the artist, these materials are not an end but a starting point. Remixing secondhand garments into new forms, Tenant of Culture proposes a cyclical process where materials can be continually restructured, serving as a means of critique and reimagination in our world of overproduction.
HOST: Tenant of Culture is curated by Julie Le, Assistant Curator, The Contemporary Austin.
Photos courtesy of The Contemporary Austin.