Organised Chaos 

This year, for the first time, MA Architecture collaborated with MA Fashion to design the iconic MAF yearly catwalk and static show for London Fashion Week. The collaboration was taken on by Lab C: Stagecraft, dedicated to explore the intersections between architecture and performance. The Lab advanced the design for MAF’s 2022 show ‘Shiny Shiny’ as an urban intervention which took place on The Crossing and in the Lethaby Gallery in the King’s Cross Estate during the last week of February.

The Disruption Concept

The show revolved around 3 main concpets: Movements in a public space, From disruption to controlled chaos and Zero waste. The first, public space evolved around the analysis of public movements on the King’s Cross Estate, moments of collision, negotiation, and resolution. Working within these highly regulated spaces, we sought to loosen up the rigidity and disrupt the ordered nature to better reflect the spirit of CSM. The second being, Disruption, we were guided by the sequel “Designing Disorder’ by Richard Sennett and Paolo Sendra, and inspired to loosen up the rigidity of our surroundings through designing moments of disruption.

Lastly, we revolved around the parameter of a zero waste show; our approach to production was underpinned by the college’s stance on the climate emergency and our desire to alleviate the wasteful tendencies associated with temporary events. Everything within the show was re-used from either waste materials, such as the hangings, or borrowed from the university campus, such as the seating. Early research around the campus yielded an opportunity to source raw materials for the show. In the fashion design department, team members identified as a part of the studio’s creative process bins of offcuts were produced daily. Seeing an opportunity to re-use these waste materials through techniques of braiding and draping, the offcuts gathered mass to take form as sculptural hangings, punctuating the set. These fabric sculptures were meticulously crafted from aforementioned offcuts collected tirelessly by myself and Dominica and deadstock fabric donated by others.

Through the theory of glitch art, whose genesis stems from a celebration of computational failures and incorrect usages of systems, we appropriated from their methodologies, defined as fragmentation, replication/ repetition, and linearity.

We sought to challenge parameters to the brink of failure in our show. Both through set and spatial choreography coming together to resent a glitch-filled tableau, or controlled chaos.