A Hoodie Is More Than a Fashion Statement.

The hoodie has come a long way. Originally a garment designed to keep 1930s factory workers warm in chilly New York warehouses, hooded sweatshirts are as political as another humble garment with attitude, the T-shirt. Now, there is a scholarly exhibition exploring the hoodie’s cultural significance. 

In the exhibition, which is simply titled “The Hoodie” and is now on show at Rotterdam’s Het Nieuwe Instituut, the complex associations surrounding the sweatshirt are explored through photography, film, installation, and fashion. The exhibition, which has been guest curated by the writer Lou Stoppard, does not pull its punches. Included are the hoodie’s links with ideas of race, social inequality, and “outlaw” youth culture, as well as opposition against police brutality.

Featured in the show are hoodie-themed works by leading artists, including David Hammons, Campbell Addy, Sasha Huber, John Edmonds, Lucy Orta and Thorsten Brinkmann, and designers such as Rick Owens, Virgil Abloh’s Off-White, VETEMENTS, and Vexed Generation.

The Swedish artist Angelica Falkeling has made a special hoodie-inspired commission. For her mixed-media installation, Falkeling uses audio and sculpture to draw attention to the impact of the cotton industry on the environment and society. She explores how producing raw materials and making the garment can involve the exploitation of low-paid workers.

(more details: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/exhibition-rotterdam-questioning-role-hoodie-contemporary-culture-1718916)