Conversation Piece: Hybrid Dessous with Amelie Schlemmer

Designer, passionate swimmer and hydrophile, cofounder of the Schwimmverein Donaukanal

A talk followed by a hybrid walk
Don't forget your towel and swimsuit!

Historical developments in swimwear and underwear reveal astounding information about changing bodily norms, fashion ideals, and social taboos.

Between lace and neoprene shimmer the great themes of freedom, corporality, identity, and intimacy. Unisex and inclusiveness are also the focus of Amelie Schlemmer’s artistic research: how can bathing fashions be designed for completely different people of all ages, genders, and body shapes? We talk with the artist about her approach to the body, to water, and to urban actionism.
Tue, 2.9.2025 5.30 pm7.30 pm
MAK – Museum of Applied Arts
Registration closed
In an ensuing choreographic stroll to the Donaukanal, Hybrid Dessous’ wild and wonderful collection, located between swimwear and underwear, will be presented by performers from the Schwimmverein Donaukanal. The unique wearables of Amelie Schlemmer and Marlene Hübner’s label, Hybrid Dessous, incorporate allusions to local contexts and idiosyncratic elements from historical dress styles, as well as polyphonic tales of swimwear and underwear. On this particular evening, Hybrid Dessous experiments not only with unusual textiles but also with the dynamic flux linking water and city.

THE CONVERSATION PIECES FORMAT
We need to talk! In the Conversation Pieces educational format, we talk to artists, activists, scientists and personalities from various fields of knowledge about selected objects from the MAK Collection. Conversation Pieces is dedicated to topics such as diversity, feminism, participation or loneliness, symbiotic bodies, racism in collections, planet care and much more. We use the MAK as a polyphonic place of exchange and confront various socio-political discourses and problems that allow new perspectives on an extraordinary collection. Conversation Pieces sees itself as an impulse to make common imagery and narratives visible and to critically question them by talking about them together.

Please register 
Free admission with valid museum ticket (reduced price on Tuesday evenings)