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The Arts Intel Report

ECHO: Wrapped in Memory

A look from the Simone Rocha Spring/Summer 2022 collection.

Oct 14, 2023 – Feb 25, 2024

“It’s my past and as rotten as it was,” wrote the artist Louise Bourgeois, “I would like to take it and hold it tight in my arms.” Bourgeois was explaining why she keeps old clothing. She connected fashion with stories—memory—and this is the springboard of “ECHO,” an exhibition that features works by Bourgeois, the fashion designer Simone Rocha, and the choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. All three have focused on the way clothes carry experiences in their seams and creases, and at varying points in their careers all three have associated garments with childhood and motherhood, aging and creating. In addition, the show pulls from MoMu’s archives to display items in different stages of deterioration. Imperfections, stains, and tears amplify the relationship between fashion and the passing of time. —Jeanne Malle