The exhibition positions Helmut Lang – guest professor for fashion at the Angewandte from 1993 to 1996 – as a cultural thinker with a distinctly artistic mindset whose work anticipated the post-disciplinary condition of contemporary fashion. With his concept of the Séance de Travail (“work in progress”), developed from 1988 onwards, Lang redefined the fashion show as a spatial and performative practice, foregrounding process, presence, and perception. Garments, architecture, sound, and audience converged into a unique atmospheric experience.
 
Drawing on the semester project White Projects, students of the fashion class temporarily inhabit the large-scale floor plan of the Séance de Travail A/W 2004/05 in the central hall of the exhibition, activating the spatial blueprint through a special choreography and staging.
 
Fête Blanche unfolds as a contemporary moment and collective celebration: Silhouettes, structures, and bodies in motion respond to Lang’s setting and transform it into a living environment. The color white functions as the common thread – reduced, fragmentary, and speculative – and as “carte blanche” for a younger generation to formulate new futures for fashion.

Meeting Point: Central Hall of the Lower Exhibition Hall (HELMUT LANG. SÉANCE DE TRAVAIL)
Free admission with a museum ticket
No registration required