Berlin's Zeiss Major Planetarium plays host to Day One of Reference Festival 2021. Courtesy Reference.
Under the relentlessly demanding pre-pandemic fashion calendar, it had long been posited that brands showing at Berlin Fashion Week would continue to remain in the shadows of their contemporaries in New York, London, Milan and Paris. Many reasons have been attributed to this perceived inferiority, but questions have frequently been posed towards the city’s ability to compete with fashion’s so-called ‘big four’ in terms of resourcing, manufacturing and logistics.
Whilst these issues may not be entirely foregone, as Fashion joins the rest of us in the 21st century by embracing Digital and Phygital experiences due to the pandemic, an opportunity has arisen for brands showing at Berlin Fashion Week to level the playing field. Fashion week organisers can gain ground on overseas rivals by utilising an area of expertise that Berlin is rich in — digital creative expression.
That’s where Reference Festival comes in. Events of its calibre will be crucial to Berlin’s post-pandemic Fashion Week schedule — with much of its success likely to be dependent on how well it can collaborate with the wealth of digital creatives working in the city. Reference Festival 2021 represents the second iteration of the event which debuted in 2019. This year, they’ve compiled a jam-packed lineup of showcases celebrating a variety of mediums whilst also bringing together some of the most prominent creative figures associated with the German capital. The likes of Hans Ulrich Obrist, Honey Dijon, GmbH and 032c are all set to feature as attendees at the event which runs from 21 to 23 January.
Thematically, this year’s festival is looking to “Navigate Parallel Realities” — serving as a metaphor for both the resurgence of multidisciplinary artists as well as the challenging versions of reality we are currently living in. Day one of the festival takes place in Berlin’s Zeiss Major Planetarium before moving onto Reference Studios’ gallery space for Day two. The final day of proceedings transports attendees into the digisphere where they’ll be able to experience the event’s program via the dedicated Reference Realities platform, meaning that even those in quarantine will be able to take part.
Beyond the event’s headliners, here are five other Reference Festival 2021 participants that you can’t afford to miss:
PAN presents Anne Imhof & Eliza Douglas c/o Carhartt WIP
Anne Imhof & Eliza Douglas. Photo: Nadine Fraczowski. Courtesy Reference.
Multi-disciplinary record label PAN has joined forces with Anne Imhof and Eliza Douglas for a series of collaborative tracks, alongside performances of their solo material. Some tracks are accompanied by material made specifically to be exhibited in the planetarium. PAN’s showcase has been made possible by Carhartt WIP who have previously collaborated with PAN on a radio mix. Prior to Imhof and Douglas taking to the planetarium there will be performances from the likes of Chinese musician and visual artist Pan Daijing, Finish avant-garde electronic duo Amnesia Scanner, and dancer, model and choreographer MJ Harper.
acte™
[Left] Photo: Rayan Nohra (@rayannohra) Starring: Naru (@naru.edet) [Right] Photo: acteTM Starring: Tohji (@_tohji_). Courtesy Reference.
acte™ is the Berlin-based studio & artist has been operating in “the intersection of visual and haptic significance” with the aim of transcending creative and social boundaries since their inception in Summer 2018.
Mowalola x Chapel Petrassi
Courtesy Reference.
Mowalola‘s signature inverted Sony Ericcson logo meets the furniture design of Marie-Charlotte Bassi and Diego Petroso, founders of Chapel Petrassi. Their Reference Festival collaboration is accompanied by a dedicated film piece forming part of a wider presentation.
ENDYMA
Michael Kardamakis. Photo: Chris Kontos. Courtesy Reference.
If you’re searching for archive Helmut Lang pieces, chances are, you’ll be getting in touch with Michael Kardamakis. More prominently known by the name of his online fashion archive ENDYMA, Kardamakis has selected 10 of the minimalist designer’s most revered pieces and will participate in a one-on-one panel to provide further context to them. Alongside this, he has curated a selection of the 1,600 pieces that make up his archive for an exclusive exhibition.
TREFFPUNKT
TREFFPUNKT SNZZFV. Courtesy Reference.
Via an interactive, audiovisual installation, Berlin-based collective TREFFPUNKT have created an installation, declared as a partial ode to Joseph Beuys, focused on the relationship between human encounters and interaction.
Dive into the full range of digital events on offer at Reference Festival running through to 23 January 2021 at ReferenceRealities.com