Bjarne Melgaard

‘The Casual Pleasure of Disappointment’ was a three year ‘fashion’ collaboration with the artist Bjarne Melgaard which culminated in a large scale exhibition in the shape of a psychopathalogical departments store; a streetwear line; a sextet of videos and a boxed ltd edition magazine featuring collaborations with Steven Klien, Chris Kraus, Anders Edstrom and Jim Henson Studios.

A meditation on accumulation and consumption and fashion victimization in general — along the way we produced a fine jewellery line for miniature pigs; a pop-up shop in the rural commune of Vienese

Actionist Otto Muhle; a completely unauthorized streetwear capsule posing as a collaboration between Supreme and the radical publisher Semiotext(e); and a performance in which Melgaard gave

away his personal hoard of luxury streetwear drawing a crowd of 5,000 people and shutting down two blocks of New York City.

People Lost Their Minds During Bjarne Melgaard’s [exhibition]. Total mayhem ensued with 18th street completely blocked as 100 people at a time were let inside the space… One woman reported being pushed while exiting the premises… Another woman inexplicably brought a child along to the festivities, and there was concerned chatter among participants fearing for the toddler’s safety.
—Henri Neuendorf, ARTNET