Dear Ellen,

The above quote comes from an Amsterdam art lover, and like him, I have been fascinated by your work for many years. This is one of the main reasons I have assisted you at your performances from the very beginning, allowing me to gain a deep understanding of your work and ideas. I write this ode to you because I know from experience that you have made a remarkable contribution to the (alternative) art scene in Amsterdam. You have designed and created wearable sculptures and extravagant fashion that, on the one hand, emphasize the beauty and strength of women, while on the other hand, they challenge the role of women in society. Moreover, your wearable sculptures tell a story that you bring to life in performances on stage.

You once told me that as a little girl, you loved fairy tales, spent time making clothes for your dolls, and created dances and plays. In doing so, you built your own imaginative world. You dreamed of becoming a dancer, actress, or fashion designer. Eventually, you realized a fusion of these different art forms in your later performances and art theater.

As a teenager, you were fascinated by the expressive power of clothing. You noticed its immense impact on the behavior of both men and women, experienced that there was a taboo surrounding sexy clothing for girls, and realized how unconventional creations could provoke strong reactions – making clothing a direct means of communication.

You also experienced the unequal division of roles between men and women, the immense pressure on girls to conform, the suppression of everything related to sexuality, and the rivalry among women themselves.

Watching the movie My Fair Lady, in which a poor street vendor transforms into a beautiful woman, you realized that extraordinary fashion could create an entirely different image of oneself. And in Federico Fellini Satyricon, you saw that costumes could contribute to a totally different atmosphere.

Additionally you also draw inspiration from the Gesammtkunst of Oscar Schlemmer Bauhaus.

All these aspects form the foundation of your work and have become central themes in your fashion designs and art, where you merge the social with the personal.

PERFORMANCES WITH WEARABLE SCULPTURES AND ART THEATER

During your Textile Design studies at the Academie de Schans in Amsterdam and the Vrije Academie in The Hague, you began developing the concept of wearable sculptures. In these wearable sculptures, you amplify the symbolic meaning of clothing. By magnifying and deconstructing idealized images, you seek the emotions hidden behind these (self-)images.

You decided to present the wearable sculptures in performances on stage with professional performers like mime artists, dancers, and actors where these wearable sculptures take center stage and tell a story: blending movement, choreography, light, and music.

In your performances, the wearable sculptures undergo a metamorphosis; they change shape as pieces

are torn off, inflated or emptied. You create a mysterious, fairytale like atmosphere that evokes associations and reflections in the audience. Additionally, in a world where people tend to categorize everything, you find it important to restore a sense of unity and allow the audience to experience that wholeness.

Your first performances took place in the early eighties at the NRC building in Amsterdam, one of the first experimental art scenes, founded by Peter Giele and a gathering place for artists. Soon after, performances followed in galleries, theaters, and festivals such as Galerie Sponz, the Shaffy Theater, the Melkweg, and the Vondelpark Openlucht Theater.

Your very first performance centered around The Man in the Lemonade Sculpture, a piece for five performers that explored the power dynamics between men and women. The man manipulates two women against each other. His masculinity is exaggerated by inflatable shoulders, chest, and thighs, overlaid with a construction of transparent tubes filled with red lemonade. The woman’s dependence is amplified by a plexiglass headpiece that covers her face and high transparent shoes that make it impossible for her to walk without assistance. In the end the independent woman, dressed in a sculptural garment crowned with a headdress of transparent and sharp spines, literally and figuratively dethroned the man from his pedestal, draining him empty.

ART FASHION

Following these performances, you received requests to design extravagant clothing. From the eighties on, you focused on creating designs that made women feel strong and confident. This led to the establishment of your own studio, Ellen Schippers Design (1985), where you crafted custom-made designs for an international clientele, including artists and theater groups such as Ellen ten Damme, Nance, Racoon, Dolly Bellefleur, the Acrobatic Dance Theater Corpus, Introdans, and the State Opera in Dresden.

You were the first designer in the Netherlands to create a powerful erotic collection for women that emphasized female autonomy and sexuality. The choice of materials like lacquer plastic, leather and latex reinforced the image of the strong, independent woman and represented a radical break from how women had previously been depicted in soft lingerie and submissive poses. You also turned traditional gender roles upside down by presenting men as objects of desire in buttock-exposing pants. This concept was showcased on the television program Tineke(1986), reaching six million viewers- causing both a shock and a wave of publicity. You were interviewed by nearly all mainstream newspapers and magazines, and several television specials highlighted your work, including Rok & Rol, Het Klokhuis, Backstage, and AT5 Special Report.

After performances at the COC- where various subcultures gathered, consisting of people who deviated from traditional male/female roles (now known as the LGBTQ+ movement) – you were invited to perform at Pink Saturday in Zwolle and the Vondelpark Openlucht Theater, the Homo Monument, and the Festival of Seduction at the Melkweg. You also participated with your own boat in one of the first Gay Prides (1996). At the front of the boat stood a performer in a water costume, with a construction of tubes above her head that continuously sprayed water from her outfit throughout the entire parade. Ofcourse there was a great deal of interest from these subcultures in your clothing designs.

ART THEATER

In 1986, you introduced your Art Theater: a full evening series of performances at venues such as the Brakke Grond, the Kleine Komedie, Panama, Escape, Mazzo, Melkweg, Paradiso, Maison Descartes, and the Vondelpark Openlucht Theater.

You always had full control over the entire process – designing, creating, rehearsing, performing, and organizing. A crew of about 25 people collaborated on these productions, including performers, pr-assistants, lighting and sound technicians, hairstylists and makeup artists, assistants, and dressers. Rehearsing together has always been one of your favorite aspects of your work. One of your most memorable experiences was performing in Vienna during the Wiener Sommer Symposium (1987), where you had just 14 days to bring an Art Theater production to life with a group of local performers, that you could select yourself.

SOLO PERFORMANCES

In the late 1990s, you began focusing on the inner world of women and created a series of solo performances. These performances revolved around the tension between inner experience and outward appearance, highlighting the contradiction between authenticity and image, and inflating or destroying the suffocating beauty ideals imposed on women. For example, you created a costume with inflatable breasts and buttocks, in which the performer gradually tears off elements of her outfit – long hair, a mask with red lips, large breasts, and full buttocks – one by one. The mask she wears represents the anonymity of the beauty ideal. During the performance, she frees herself of these imposed ideals. Through this metamorphosis the performance tells a story about the position and role of women in Western society. You also designed catsuits with inflatable breasts to challenge the notion of the ‘manufactured’ body, as well as a ‘ball gown’ that turned out to be a prison.

As a costume history curator once told me: Ellen has no fear of playing with taboos and fantasies. This interplay between emotions and appearance is what makes her work so powerful.

EXPIERENCE SPACES

During an art theatre production with poët Arthur Lava at Maison Descartes (2002), organized by artists Mirko Krabbé and Anke Akerboom, the audience was seated so close to the performers that they could almost touch them. The emotional response from the spectators was so intense that you decided to bring your work even closer to the public through experience spaces, integrating various art forms.

The experience space Frauensehnsucht at Loods 6 (2010) moved me the most. At the entrance, visitors were introduced by a poëm about the exhibition’s central theme: Oneness.  Thereafter they wandered individually through interconnected spaces that merged organically into one another, as if forming one large installation featuring video performances, video projections on transparent sculptures, triptychs, (moving) wearable sculptures, and music.

As a result of this project, you were invited to participate in the International Women Art Festival in Aleppo (Syria, 2010), where your video performances gained significant attention. They were shown in a former electricity building, whose mysterious atmosphere complemented your work perfectly. One particular video performance, in which the performer breaks free from her costume and ends in a scream, deeply resonated with the audience. While you had expected that the Syrian public might be shocked, their reactions ranged from describing your work as imaginative to fairy tale-like. During a workshop for students, where they were tasked with creating their own performance, you were struck by their openness and choice of personal themes such as homosexuality and the tension between tradition and innovation. You told me that both the exhibition and the student workshop remain among the highlights of your career.

EXHIBITIONS WITH VIDEO ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Inspired by the reactions of both the audience and students in Aleppo, you decided to delve into the fairy tales of One Thousand and One Nights. To your surprise, one of Sherazades first stories tells of a sexually active woman who is imprisoned in a glass coffin but repeatedly manages to escape her guard to seduce men she chooses herself. The contrast with the Brothers Grimm’s tale of Snowwhite could not be greater – Snowwhite, also lying in a glass coffin, remains passive, waiting for the prince to wake her with a kiss, not choosing her own man. This stark juxtaposition turns stereotypical ideas about women in Eastern and Western cultures upside down.

You decided to create a video performance about Snowwhite and Sherazade and dedicate your next exhibition to them. The videos were shot like paintings and displayed within two coffins, giving the illusion that the women were truly lying inside them. Snowwhite & Sherazade was exhibited at Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam (2012) and later showcased at Atria (2014), the research center about women, where relevant literature from its own library accompanied the exhibition.

Following this, you sought to further explore the theme of female sensuality through video performances. The deliberate slow movements of the women enhanced the dreamy and sensual atmosphere, creating a rhythmic interplay of appearance, disappearance, and harmonious merging. The imagery was poetic, reminiscent of moving paintings.

This exploration culminated in the exhibition Lost in Transition at the Red Stamp Art Gallery in Amsterdam (2017). The photographs and videos from both exhibitions have been presented not only in Amsterdam but also in New York, Tokyo, Genoa, London, South-Afrika and Venice (2024).

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

In addition to performances and exhibitions, you have given guest lectures for the Fashion program at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) and for Gender Studies at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). At the UvA, you also delivered the Kleine Mosse lecture in 2010.

For a year (2008), you hosted your own segment Fashion & Art on the cultural program of Radio Salto Live, where you interviewed both emerging and established designers, including Iris van Herpen, Mada van Gaans, and Paulien Berkelaar.

In 2009, you were accepted as an artist member of Arti et Amicitiae.

CURRENT WORK

Currently, you are focusing on your YouTube channel, 7 Faces of Women, featuring video performances and video art, as well as creating photo books of your collected works. These books have been acquired by art libraries at several prestigious universities, including Yale, Columbia, and Princeton, as well as the Getty Research Institute.

All in all, in nearly 45 years of being active as an artist in Amsterdams (alternative) art scene, you have made a unique and distinctive contribution to both womens emancipation and the cities cultural landscape.