Looking at Karlheinz Weinberger’s photographs of Swiss rebel youth, the Halbstarke, in the 1950s, it’s hard not to see an accord with today.
The youths appear free-spirited, rebellious, defiant, and their embodied hope for a different and more vibrant future oozes through the images, even 70 years later.
The Halbstarke wore found objects, which were given new and personal meaning –– zippers were removed from jeans and replaced with nails, studs, even a horseshoe, and jackets were embellished with fur, photographs and chains.
These DIY in-terpretations of American rock’n’roll fashion revealed the ways in which style, and ideology, was translated around the world, emerging in inventive and experimental forms. In current times, we continue to find, recycle and recreate the parts of our world that resonate with us, demonstrating how new emerges from old, and how transformation is a continual pro-cess of sifting through the past, combining it with something new, and holding on to the in-tent of building a better, brighter, future.
In such deeply resourceful and inventive contexts, the humble nail is exalted, entrusted with a multitude of meanings. The Kugi Ring emerges as a symbol of transformation and renewal, a poetic and personal take on a universal object that enables individual self-expression and an assured stance towards the future.
SS2016 | KUGI RING 2