Documentary Project ‘VerWeven’ by Nina Willems

Please introduce yourself to our readers. (Who are you, where do you come from and what is your field of specialization?)
My name is Nina Willems, I’m from Utrecht and I studied Theatre Performance at the Toneelacademie in Maastricht.

What inspires you in general?
I’m very inspired by the work of visual artists like Mark Rothko, James Turrel and Bill Viola. In theatre performance, I think Kris Verdonck and Dries Verhoeven are very inspiring artists.

What kind of performer/theatre artist are you?
I always mix different disciplines in order to create the right. I always ask myself: what is the question I want to answer? What is the story I want to tell? And which disciplines do I need to combine in order to do so? I myself specialize in writing, video art and live performance, but I also like to collaborate with people that from different disciplines.

What is your opinion about the connection between fashion and theatre?
I think both fashion and theatre are media through which you can tell stories. It is not for nothing that costume design is such an important part of theatre: clothing tells you so much about what a person is like and where he comes from.

What was your experience to be the model in our campaign image of FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2013?
That was so great, although it took me quite some time to get all that green paint out of my hair, anyway it was worth it. I had a wonderful day with the highly creative and motivated team from FASHIONCLASH. I’m very happy with the result. It’s unusual, and you can really feel that there is a story behind the “character” on the photo.

What attracts you about FASHIONCLASH platform?
FASHIONCLASH has created a platform where young artists from all disciplines have a chance to relate their work to fashion. They are not afraid to experiment, and I think that creates not only a very fresh and unique line-up, but also attracts a young and international audience.

How would you describe FASHIONCLASH?
Curious. Daring. Interdisciplinary. Inspiring.

What is the concept behind your new project for FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2013?
For the project "Verweven" I asked people to tell me the stories behind the clothes they wear. This resulted in a documentary, but there will be more. Five young designers (Anouk Haegens, Brit van Nerven, Inge de Vor, Sabine Staartjes and Jolijn Pasmans.) were challenged to create a new piece of clothing, each based on the stories of one person. The new pieces will be shown during FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2013, on the 1th of June. From the 2nd of June to the 9th of June this documentary together with the newly designed pieces will be shown at Centre Ceramique in Maastricht.

How do your experience the collaborations with the designers?
It’s very interesting to work with people in very different field of specialization. They are really adding something to my project that I couldn’t add myself. I am very curious about the result!

What can we expect from you in the future?
Before I went to the Theatre Academy, I studied Neuropsychology for 3 years. The brain is one of the most complicated and exciting fields of study at the moment. It’s very inspiring to learn more about the way it works. I’m planning to make a series of performances about this theme, where I will combine elements of neuroscience, philosophy and theatre performance. By the way, I would also love to be part of FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2014.