Bernadette Corporation is a New York City and Paris-based art and fashion collective founded in 1994. Core members include Bernadette van Huy, John Kelsey, and Antek Walzcak. Bernadette Corporation is known for its performance, fashion, and art which in varying ways emulates and disturbs corporations. Influences from fashion to film include Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren, and Jean-Luc Godard. The group is often described in terms of the Situationist movement.

History

When Bernadette Corporation first formed, they were hired to organize parties at downtown nightclubs. They quickly began making fashion and took part in the world of 1990s underground fashion. In the 1990s, their clothes were published in '' Harper's Bazaar'', ''Purple'', ''Visionaire'', ''Index Magazine'', and ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

''. They take influences from the "three Bs";

Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular ...

, Bataille and Baudrillard. In the late 1990s, Bernadette Corporation became more productive as a publishing, film, and video group, briefly publishing the magazine ''Made in USA'', named after the Jean-Luc Godard film of the same name. In 2001 Bernadette Corporation temporarily merged with Le Parti Imaginaire to make the film ''Get Rid of Yourself'', which retains both fiction and documentary elements. The Bernadette Corporation's other films include; ''The B.C. Corporate Story,'' ''Hell Frozen Over,'' and ''Get Rid of Yourself.''

Bernadette Van Huy

Bernadette van Huy is a New York-based artist and one of the founding members of Bernadette Corporation. She moved to Manhattan at the age of 23 at which point she began to organise parties in New York nightclubs. She is one of the two currently active members of the collective along with John Kelsey. In 1997 she worked as the costume designer for the Harmony Korine film Gummo.

Publications

* ''Made in USA'' magazine * Bernadette Corporation (Collective). 2004. ''Reena Spaulings''. New York: Semiotext(e). * Vasiljevic, David. 2011. ''Bernadette Corporation: the complete poem''. London: Koenig Books Ltd.

Exhibitions

*Bernadette Corporation, Greene Naftali, New York, February 2023 *The Gay Signs, Gaga, Los Angeles, May 2017 *Bernadette Corporation: 2000 Wasted Years, Artists Space. *A Haven for the Soul, Galerie Neu, Berlin, Germany. November–December 2010 *The Complete Poem, Greene Naftali, New York, September 2009 *Peliculas, Perros Negros, Mexico City, late May - late July 2007 *Multiplyplex, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, March 2007 *Bernadette Corporation, How To Cook A Wolf, Kunsthalle Zürich Parallel, January 2007 *Be Corpse, Volksbühne Pavilion, Galerie Meerrettich, Berlin, November 2006 *Bernadette Corporation - King Kong, Hamburg Kunstverein, January 2006 *Bernadette Corporation, Witte de With, Rotterdam, November 2005 *Cinéma des damnés / Tout doit disparaître, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Le Studio / Project Room, Paris, Sept. 2004 *How to make 'life' fashionable? Galerie Meerrettich, Volksbühne Pavilion, Berlin, October 2003

External links

Official website

(includes .pdf download)

References

{{Authority control International artist groups and collectives Arts organizations established in 2004