The solo exhibition by HFBK alumna Insa Derk Wagner in the HFBK Boutique in the Mediamarkt building on Mönckebergstraße presents a multimedia installation of various works from recent years, borrowed from the worlds of fashion and beauty communities, digital rituals, and consumer spaces, among others.
An updated version of the work Competitive Edge (2022), which deals with progressive technologies in nail design, hangs from the ceiling in the shop window. The transfer of the Dual Forms method to butterfly-like creatures made of paper addresses everyday and pop-cultural design discourses as well as specifics of the nail industry.
The narrative video work 🎓 GRWM to Graduate: From Palette to Platform! 💄 Storytime + Favourites 2007-2024 ✨, placed in the sculpture Holy Grail (2024), a dressing table made of four IKEA cabinet modules, provides clues to the development of the digital beauty community over the last twenty years.
The video work plays with the method of simply narrated “Get Ready With Me” formats, which convey various content during a beauty routine. Insa Wagner presents the results of her artistic research master's thesis From Palette to Platform — Exploring protocols of the YouTube Beauty Community through the filter of James Charles Casting Call videos, in which 44 short YouTube videos under the hashtag #JamesCharlesCastingCall are analyzed, in which participants report on their personal history with beauty products and the YouTube community.