CHR Radar Brooklyn: Textiles, House of Kong + Carnival | Aug. 31-Sept. 6
September arrives in Brooklyn with a lot of fabric.
Some of it is hanging in a gallery.
Some of it carries hidden messages.
Some of it will be moving through Carnival crowds.
And some of it lives inside an animated music universe that has spent 25 years refusing to stay inside a single medium.
Welcome to CHR Radar, Crown Heights Radio’s weekly edit of fashion, art, movement and culture worth knowing.
This week, we’re watching what happens when clothing becomes more than clothing.
🔥 The Pick: Gorillaz, House of Kong
🧵 The Textile Pick:This Mortal Coil
🪡 The Fashion Detail:7 Words of Hope
🎶 The Street-Culture Move: Brooklyn Carnival Week
A warehouse.
A coffee shop.
A working atelier.
A museum after dark.
Different spaces, but the same idea keeps appearing:
Culture gets stronger when you can see how it was made.
01. 🔴 CHR RADAR PICK
GORILLAZ: HOUSE OF KONG
Opens Tuesday, September 1 | Through September 28
10 AM-10 PM daily
Agger Fish Building, 299 Sands Street, Brooklyn
The immersive House of Kong opens in Brooklyn on September 1, offering roughly an hour inside the visual world of Gorillaz. The exhibition celebrates 25 years of the project through an audio-visual installation, with creative direction, concept design, production design and video design by SWEAR Studio and costume curation by Harris Elliot.
Gorillaz is not merely music accompanied by artwork. Music, illustration, animation, characters, typography, costume, merchandise, environments and storytelling have been built into one recognizable universe.
CHR Radar says: A brand gets interesting when the audience can walk inside it.
Why it’s on our Radar: Music, visual identity, costume, animation, spatial design, merchandising and world-building.
02. 🧵 TEXTILE MONTH PICK
THIS MORTAL COIL
On view September 1-30
Opening reception Friday, September 4 | 6-9 PM
T.O.L.K., Bushwick
New York Textile Month begins Tuesday, and this group exhibition brings together ten artists working across textiles, sculpture, installation and mixed media. The work investigates the body, memory, homeland, diaspora, transformation and the ways people construct belonging through lived and imagined histories.
Textile is not being treated as decoration. It becomes memory, body, culture and information.
That matters because clothing does precisely the same thing.
CHR Radar says: Fabric remembers more than measurements.
Why it’s on our Radar: Textiles, body, cultural identity, material memory and contemporary craft.
03. 🪡 THE FASHION + MEANING PICK
7 WORDS OF HOPE
Opening Sunday, September 6 | 12-5 PM
Artist talks at 2 PM
At the atelier of Mary Jaeger, 219 Johnson Avenue, Brooklyn
Mary Jaeger opens 7 Words of Hope as part of New York Textile Month, with work by Jaeger and eight invited artists. The exhibition remains open daily through September 17.
Her seven words, love, joy, peace, compassion, courage, empathy and happiness, have historically been embedded within pleats and construction so that their meaning is discovered rather than announced. Jaeger describes them as messages intended to deepen the relationship between handmade clothing and wearer.'
That is fascinating fashion territory.
Meaning does not always need to sit on the outside of a garment.
Sometimes the wearer can know something the room does not.
CHR Radar says: The quietest detail can belong most completely to the person wearing it.
Why it’s on our Radar: Handmade textiles, hidden details, pleating, garment construction and emotional design.
04. 🇨🇦🇹🇹🇧🇧 CARNIVAL WEEK STREET-STYLE PICK
BROOKLYN CARNIVAL WEEK BEGINS
BLOCKO MANIA: Thursday, September 3 | 7 PM-1 AM
SOCA FEST: Friday, September 4 | 8 PM-3 AM
Brooklyn Museum
Labor Day West Indian Day Carnival programming accelerates this week with Blocko Mania on Thursday and Soca Fest on Friday. The official WIADCA calendar lists live Caribbean performers across both nights, including Mical Teja, Iwer George, Edwin Yearwood, Kes the Band, Bunji Garlin, Fay-Ann Lyons and others.
CHR Radar says: Some clothes are designed to be seen standing still. Carnival immediately exposes the difference.
Why it’s on our Radar: Caribbean culture, dance, personal styling, color and movement.
👀 ALSO ON THE BROOKLYN RADAR
FIRE FLOWERS / BOOKS ZINES ART
Opening Thursday, September 3 | 8 PM-4 AM
Foxhole Factory
The Factory NYC - 723 Kent Ave, Brooklyn
This exhibition brings together books, zines and portraiture documenting queer life, friendship and creative community, with an opening night combining art, film, performance and music. It runs through September 9.
