Art and fashion are like a pair of problematic lovers: not sure that they are good for each other; uncertain that they even understand each other and yet inextricably linked and attracted to each other…

And where better than in Belgium to consider this dichotomy? Belgium, whose medieval city-states founded their wealth and importance on expertise in textiles; whose old master paintings still form the basis for what we understand as ‘costume history’ in northern Europe. Belgium, whose disproportionate influence on international fashion thinking in much morerecent decades is, perhaps, only matched by the disproportionate influence its artists and patrons wield in international terms.

It is, therefore, entirely fitting and appropriate that as the special programme forming part of Trajector Art Fair, Taut develops its discourses – through events and a special exhibition programme- in the midst of a young and vibrant international art happening in the middle of Brussels.

Taut will be curated and programmed by Laurent Dombrowicz and Ken Pratt. Their respective roles as Fashion Director and Art Editor – and later as Joint Editors in Chief - of the lauded niche magazine Wound perhaps explains why they are so suited to this task. From their respective fashion creative and art curatorial backgrounds, whilst at the creative helm of Wound, they created a thinking magazine in which the respective disciplines of fashion, art, architecture and design always developed a thematic discourse; each discipline operating with autonomy and credible in its own field, and yet always in dialogue with the other respective disciplines. In many ways, Wound remains one of the few ‘glossy’ magazines that managed to offer its positions on fashion, art, architecture and design on equal footing.

In programming the events and exhibition manifestations for Taut, they will once again launch into navigating a paracours through the intersections between fashion and art, though this time in physical space and real time rather than between the covers of a magazine.

As was always the case in Wound, Taut will address serious questions of the roles and positions of fashion and art in contemporary culture to a broad, thinking audience. Intelligent without being humourless, thoughtful without being insular, Taut is sure to be a treat for anyone interested in fashion and art. If their published efforts have already shown that they entirely refute all notions that fashion is only for the superficial and art only for a pretentious elite, then Taut promises to be a continuation of the paths they have already developed together so well.

Collaborations and Cooperations: