and {0} others
and {0} other
In conversation with bildung teacher, fashion philosopher and board member of Queer Amsterdam Aynouk Tan (she/he). In a two-part guest lecture during The Bildung Semester program, Aynouk explored with students the relationship between appearance and identity. She used fashion and clothing to speak out about identity politics and diversity.
What exactly are you doing?
My practice moves around identity politics and diversity - through the clothes we wear, I try to make sense of the world. People sometimes call me a "fashion philosopher. I use clothing as a tool for cultural analysis. Through clothing and appearance, I try to understand and analyze human beings. I work as a journalist, teacher, moderator, advisor, curator for AFK, LINDA and the Stedelijk, among others.
What have you done as a bildung teacher?
During a two-part workshop, I take bildung students through the system of clothing. In fact, their clothing preference is not neutral; it is embedded in a larger system. Often students become resistant because they want to see and express themselves in a certain way. By challenging them, they find the strength and courage to look at themselves differently.
From something as tangible as clothing, it becomes easier to think about economic and social systems, their consequences (pollution, working conditions) and your daily functioning within them.
Why is it a problem that we identify with our clothes?
We live in a hetero-normative, colonial and patriarchal society and this can be clearly seen in clothing. We have values attached to clothing and identify with it (unconsciously). We act according to norms and categories and I try to make people aware of that. Take traditional women's clothing for example: skirts, panties, or heels - basically anything seen as "feminine" - generally do not challenge men. If they do then they are often ridiculed, or, in other words, "they drop in values. We have internalized such notions and project that onto ourselves and others. When you deviate from that, shame arises - that is the result of a disciplining system. I try to do that by disrupting my own clothing, for example. Clothes are an accessible tool in that sense because there is no person who does not dress themselves - it is incredibly personal. From something so tangible, it becomes easier to think about economic and social systems, their consequences (pollution, working conditions) and your daily functioning within them.
What do you identify with?
Withbeing queer. I am roughly against categorization. For example, most call themselves male or female while there are as many as 30 different genders. I am aware that we must identify with íthing. We are not as authentic as we think we are. Human beings are ultimately capable of change and I try to change what we identify with.
What does your clothing say about you?
I would like to disrupt - in this sense the Provos are a great inspiration - to connect the personal with the political and put imagination at the center. I want to play like a child and show that more is possible than we think. Not only because it can be liberating, but also because it is socially important. Fashion is a dressing-up box and not a straitjacket! We limit ourselves greatly by clinging to norms and categories. Moreover, the consequences are structurally disastrous.
Are you always so outspoken?
I come across as proactive and provocative, but that is because I have been ashamed of who I am. The ideal image that prevails and the pressures of the performance society have contributed to me often not feeling at home in this world. This vulnerability has forced me to break free from this system.
Wonderingif this is something for you? More information about the Half Year Program can be found here.
