Laivi (1988) is an artist who focuses on different forms of fashion art. Her work is characterised by experimentation with textiles and garments, and she explores concepts of sustainable fashion by assessing the environmental impact of garments and materials. Laivi analyses clothing in a broader sense, on visual-aesthetic, functional and expressive levels.
In her earlier work, Laivi has explored the theme of emotional closeness between the garment and the wearer. In one of her first exhibitions, Poor girl/ too cool (2016), she examined the quality of the garment and the satisfaction of the wearer, highlighting the mechanisms that create added value in the product. In Infinite mind caged in practical possibilities(2017), she focused on how to reduce the distance between the garment and the fabric it is made from. Laivi’s artistic quest also relates to the mythical seamless shirt and the possible conceptual meanings of contemporary clothing.
The starting point of Laivi’s series of performative fashion installations is the shaping of the atmosphere of a space through the means of fashion art: clothes and materials. She is interested in capturing time in garments and combining temporary and permanent materials to create objects of questionable durability and value. In the one-night event Long Live Trashed Bodies (2018), the artist exhibited garments and accessories as static objects in a dark room, so that visitors had to use a torch to find them. The beam of light unexpectedly cutting into the darkness matched the exhibition’s garbage can aesthetic: the visitor could also unsuspectingly find a few repulsive objects. The exhibition also included canvases in and on which the fabric technologist had woven items of clothing that emerged from the surface of the work.
The materials were also the focus of Laivi’s exhibition Collecting and Preserving (2021). The artist explored what materials could be created for the future, in a day and age when much of manufacturing technology is based on oil as a raw material.
The joint exhibition/installation Goods and Services (2022) by Kasia Gornjak and Laivi opened the door to the mythology and value creation of clothing, exploring the stages of the fashion industry from production and packaging, to sales and consumption. Goods and Services is an ongoing collaborative project that focuses on fashion industry practices, paying equal attention to products and the production processes.
Like previous projects, the exhibition Mapping Paradise (2024) invites viewers to push the boundaries of creativity and knowledge, offering new perspectives and exploration of the world around us. To this end, the artist used the method of mapping, and emphasised the importance of the map as a new territory. The exhibition looked at the cultural, social and natural aspects and revealed their deeper meanings as a means of perceiving the world.
Laivi has studied fashion design at the Estonian Academy of Arts (BA, 2012), and Aalto University in Helsinki (MA, 2017). She has furthered her education in London, Copenhagen and Barcelona. Since 2014, she has participated in group exhibitions of contemporary art and exhibited her work in several solo exhibitions. In 2021, she was awarded the Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. In 2023, Laivi worked for nearly six months as a WIELS resident in Brussels.