Concept: Paulina Tsvetanova

Androgynous, unisex, transgender – all of this is totally ‘in’, especially in the high fashion industry. Trans-aesthetics are very popular and have already penetrated many societies. Transgender celebrities, models, performance artists and even fashion agencies are now available. Is it just another trend? Does fashion change one’s own gender perception? Don’t we let us define too much about gender? How does fashion help us discover our true selves? Is identity depending on gender or sexual orientation? We want to provide a framework for the playful handling of gender stereotypes. The shoot celebrates beauty and identity beyond mental barriers, fears and reservations, and finally also beyond gender definitions.

This Open Call is aimed at transgender, intersexual, bisexual, homosexual, as well as heterosexual people, who live their identity independent of their gender and sexual orientation. 

Following the selection of models, we will be photoshooting with the renowned fashion photographer Antonio Castello (the shooting will take place Juli 2017). Each outfit is selected tailor-made for the respective personality. In addition, interviews with the models will be held. Each model receives a small thank you of the photos of the shoot, for their own use.

Fashion transformed, liberated, unfolded. Fashion exists independently of gender identities. Its about the human being behind it. Through the deliberate rapture from the classic-normative gender balance, we want to stir up and question our perception of the gender identities. The aim of the curated photo shoot is to raise awareness for this taboo topic and promote the social acceptance and equality of people who live between the sexes.

Find the courage to confess to your own nature!

If you are interested in participating in this project, please send us a short text about you and up to 3 photos until 30.06. to: hello@paulinasfriends.com

IS IT JUAN OR IS ANTONIO? IT’S ACTUALLY BOTH, JUAN AND ANTONIO.

Six years ago the Colombian Artist Juan Hoyos found himself on a completely new life situation as he moved from his hometown in Bogotá to a new place in Miami, Florida. One day walking on the beach after a hard day and many unsuccessful months trying to find his place as an artist in the city Juan met his doppelganger: Antonio Castello.

Since that day Juan and Antonio have been working together as a creative couple. While Juan is the brain behind the operations, the social guy that easily get access to all kind of events and situations meeting other artists and curators, Antonio is the one taking care of the art pieces; somehow shy and introvert Antonio is most of the time in the studio, behind the camera, setting the colors, the frame and on time to time the paintings.

Over the last years Juan and Antonio created an inseparable link, one so strong that you will probably find hard to know who is who, as the one can’t live with out the other.

However this has taken the couple to unpleasant situations, sometimes Juan is confused with his twin and forced to say hi to people who only know him as Antonio, or that day in which Antonio was forbidden to get access to a private event as he was on the guest list under the name of Juan.

Overwhelmed by the multiple mistakes and confusions Juan and Antonio moved last year to Berlin to start again, here they decided to create a photography journey in which the main characters (them) are easily recognized. In this series we can see the pair in their private home living an ordinary couple life, getting lost around Berlin or enjoy a vacation in a new destination.

An important part of their series is the recreation of classic paintings in which Juan plays the part of the model and Antonio sets the stage and Works behind the camera, after the Photo is ready Antonio then paints directly on the glass.

For more information about the artist check out his homepage: http://www.antoniocastello.us/

Heartbeat – Art in conversation with vintage fashion by Susanne Zinser

The intervention of art and fashion is very ‘in’ in the contemporary design scene. Clothes reference visual art. Fashion is often used as a formal language of ‘free’ art, but both are indispensable in everyday life.

In the exhibition ‘Heartbeat’, a dialogue takes place between the paintings by Susanne Zinser and the Vintage designer clothing found in Paulina’s Friends concept gallery. Art and fashion meet on the same level, and this presents a great incentive to experiment with this flirtation – a game of mutual attraction and rejection.

Through the use of vivid, colour-intensive textures, Susanne Zinser’s artwork enchants. Both her themes and materials offer a poetic, feminine view of the world. If there is a word for the sensations evoked by her images, it is ‘synaesthesia’ – the unity of senses. They are passionate and full of emotion, both joie de vivre and melancholy. Their ability to touch occurs in the way a garment touches the skin. Some paintings recall a mix of different materials. When observing Zinser’s work, it may be that an old favorite blouse has now become a picture.

The aesthetic culmination of the exhibition is reached through the fusion of creations: art and fashion merge into an eclectic overall artwork and open up a new visual dimension. The formation of the compositions is a mixture of theatrical production and synergetic coincidence. Both take place intuitively in the moment.

Through the interplay of bright colors, organic forms, complex patterns and three-dimensional formations, a sense of harmony is captivated. The connecting elements are always the attraction, the coherence and the parallels between the art forms. This surrealist-futurist way of viewing speaks a postmodern visual language, thinking in perceived abstract realities.

‘Heartbeat’ embodies the idea of optical unity between art and life. It sensitises our visual habits and develops new ways of thinking, to strengthen the perception of art in our everyday urban environments. Paulina’s Friends encourage and are committed to the organic development of creative genres, without any definitions and conditions. This offers perspective for common confrontation with contemporary art – it should be communicative, interactive, unbiased – to set the grounds for a new creative lifestyle.