Beauty Without Irony
April 14, 2003
It is not just a project, it is a heartfelt statement: Beauty Without Irony. Ninette Murk, an experienced fashion journalist from Antwerp who used to work as a PR—consultant, exhibition organizer, style director of some Belgian avantgarde magazines and supporter of young designers and photographers, founded it to unite moments of true beauty — not only from the world of fashion, but also from all other artistic genres. She started looking for similarly minded people for her interdisciplinary platform and found a lot of diverse collaborators — among them famous designers, painters and authors. The result can now be visited on the BWI website. But her plans are even more ambitious: at the moment, she is working on a book, a DVD and several other projects such as exhibitions and auctions.
kodex asked Ninette Murk about her project for a more beautiful — and altogether better — world.
- kodex:
- Why did you start this project?
- Ninette Murk:
- Well, who else is going to do it? It needs a fool or a very romantic person to start up a project like this — and I have been accused of being both —and more. There is nothing in it for me at the moment, at least not financially, but I feel that the world needs a lot more positive, inspiring, projects right now and BWI is one of them. The inspiration for the project came after I visited the Antwerp Academy show in June 2001. Serkan Sarier — a young man from a Turkish family born in Hanau/Germany — showed such a beautiful and moving collection, presented by ballerinas to Shostakovich’s music, that many people were moved to tears, or at least got goose bumps. But afterwards they made excuses for these reactions, as they thought they weren?t ‘cool’, which made me angry: Why should we only find things beautiful when the media or advertisements tell us it is OK to do so? I wrote the text that you now find on the BWI website, sent it out to some friends and it started from there. It seems as if I touched a nerve.
- kodex:
- How long have you been working on the project?
- Ninette Murk:
- Since June 2001. After September 11, BWI became even more relevant, of course.
- kodex:
- Is a project like this possible as an internet platform?
- Ninette Murk:
- Not only as an internet platform, but that is the place where we unite the works of the participants — which are new and already existing works: ‘New’ isn’t always necessarily ‘better’. Also, because creative people from all over the world participate, the internet is very practical. We are working on the website at the moment, but straight after that we will concentrate on our first book/catalogue and a DVD, which will be produced by Michel Gaubert in Paris, as we want music and moving images as well. Then we will move on to exhibitions ( the first one is planned for janaury ?03 in Paris), more books and maybe a magazine…
- kodex:
- Do you have a favourite artist?
- Ninette Murk:
- There are so many! One of the best aspects of co—ordinating a project like this is that I get to meet a lot of new people and see the works of artists in disciplines that I didn?t know so much about before. I used to be a fashion writer specializing in avantgarde designers until I started BWI — and I still am part—time. Now I go to a lot of galleries and art exhibitions, which is very enriching, even though I do not like much of what I see. But that?s the same with fashion. Above all, the reaction of most people to the concept of BWI has been heart—warming. They feel a sense of relief: you are not an outsider because you do not belong to one of the ‘trendy’ groups. There is a lot of strength and energy to be found in creative diversity and one of our aims is to unite it.
- kodex:
- Do you think there exists such a thing as a common perception of beauty that is shared all over the world, regardless of different cultures?
- Ninette Murk:
- When you talk about pure, instinctive beauty, I think there is. I have discovered that there is a top three of subjects people mention when being asked about this kind of beauty: number one by a long way is nature in all its forms, not just sunsets or snowy mountaintops. Number two is loved ones — either people or animals. Number three is travelling to far away places. Of course there are other things that people regard as very beautiful and it is interesting to see what some creatives come up with. Surely you can get inspired by these ideas, or at least wonder why he or she chose that particular thing. This is why I also want to include writers and philosophers like Alain de Botton in the project. I do not want just a collection of beautiful images — BWI needs more substance than that.
- kodex:
- Which influences have determined your personal idea of beauty?
- Ninette Murk:
- For me, beauty is instinctive. It does not change very much — although a good night’s sleep certainly helps…
- kodex:
- Are there any artists who have, in your opinion, realized complete beauty in their works?
- Ninette Murk:
- Oh yeah, many. Painters like Rembrandt and Rubens, but also Stefan Kürten, for instance. Composers like Mozart, Bach, Shostakovich, The Beatles, Jeff Wall, Coldplay… Fashion designers like Christian Lacroix, Ungaro, Yohji Yamamoto, Serkan Sarier, Christian Dior, Madame Grès… Photographers like Herb Ritts, Andreas Gursky, Wolfgang Tillmanns, Mario Testino, David Sims, Paolo Roversi, Elaine Constantine…
- kodex:
- Do you regard the concept of BWI at least partly as having a political agenda?
- Ninette Murk:
- Sure! It is almost anti—war, as it will get people out of their protected little corners where they all sit feeling isolated, misunderstood and ‘right’. True beauty unites people, from the avantgarde to the bourgeois. Appreciation of beauty is one of the few things that people all over the world still have in common. This brings the big marketing conglomerates into question, as they try to direct our ideas of beauty with their advertisements and designs. They are everywhere and in my opinion lack individualism. They make many people feel disillusioned and empty instead of inspired, optimistic, and strong.
- kodex:
- Do you feel that you receive enough support to be able to realize your ambitious plans?
- Ninette Murk:
- The support from creatives and the media is overwhelmingly positive and strong, but I have not found many sponsors yet ? mainly because I have not yet found the right people to help organize and structure the project. But I have only started seriously looking in the last couple of months, as I wanted to work on the concept and content first. When I have found them, I truly believe that the sky is the limit and that this can be the start of a new movement — which is in fact as old as the beginning of the world.
Interview by Grit Thönissen for www.kodexonline.com
To learn more about BWI, please have a look at www.beautywithoutirony.com
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ninette murk
lambermontplaats 26, b—2000 antwerp
tel./fax: 00—32—3/237.33.82.
mobile: 00—32—475/84.30.90.
e—mail: ninette.murk@pandora.be
http://www.beautywithoutirony.com
http://www.guerilla.be
