T-Shirt Conversations

Conversations with clothes

As banal as they are vehement, as suggestive as they are deadly serious, statements on T-shirts serve different purposes. To put things into a certain perspective – think of Britney Spears with the inscription ‘I’m the American Dream’. To tease – when you are with a friend and you are wearing the slogan ‘I’m with stupid’. They can also carry a message. In 2018, Melania Trump, then first lady of the United States, visited a reception centre for migrant children. The coat she wore stated ‘I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO YOU?’ . Soon after, Melissa Mabesoone saw a woman in the US with a rejoinder on her dress: ‘I really care, why won’t u? Be best!’

The buren collective uses imagination and humour to challenge the environment in which it operates. Navigating between performance, text, video and photography, among other things, they intermingle cultural and social criticism. T-Shirt Conversations brings to life more than two thousand inscriptions the duo have spotted in the street, in shops and online. How and for whom are these statements created? What dialogues can emerge from interacting with them? From father-daughter conversations to protests and late-night telephone sex: buren processes the ironic, provocative messages and oneliners, and reintroduces them in an unexpected manner.

After the performance you can get busy with your own creative message in the T-Shirt Atelier!