Die zweite Haut

Andrea Firmenich, Johannes Janssen

The skin envelops the human body and protects it against the outside world, against cold, damp, and injury. In addition to this function as a protective, embracing sheath, the skin simultaneously mediates interaction between the individual and his or her environment. Complementing the skin, clothes can act as another selectively permeable barrier, a second skin that covers and conceals, but also as an adornment that communicates who we are, an expressive medium of cultural or individual identity. This symbiotic relationship between skin, attire, and environment has emerged as a major focus of interest in contemporary art. Artists increasingly integrate organic materials and creatural substances into their work. They tailor "natural clothes" out of flowers, twigs, fish, and hair, fragile creations whose impermanence also prompts reflections on man's mortality. Just as natural materials...