Our Shift
Photo: Sofie Bøgegren
In the exhibition Teenage Dreams, you can experience the installation Recharge by the activist fashion brand Our Shift.
Within the installation, you can both recharge your electronic devices and yourself, lying or sitting on a landscape of old tents while listening to meditative music. The installation speaks to what fills many teenagers’ lives: music, festivals, relaxation, a private space for socializing, and piles of clothing, which are connected to the trend that young people are more interested in recycling than older generations.
The theme Recharge points to both the young people’s need to recharge themselves in their own private space and their increasing need for access to power as a prerequisite for their social life, learning, and identity formation. Additionally, the installation also addresses the need to “recharge” used textiles (here tents from the Roskilde Festival and surplus textiles) and reuse them. This way, the textiles gain new life, purpose, and energy, just as a teenager recharges their energy in their room at home.
4 Questions
What is the inspiration behind the installation?
»Our inspiration comes from the idea that teenagers need their own space to relax. Much like in most teenage rooms, there’s clothing everywhere. For us, it’s also a way to showcase how much clothing is wasted. We demonstrate this by building a landscape of clothing piles that visitors can lounge on. A teenager needs a place to recharge mentally, and they also need to recharge their phones. The idea behind our installation is that it should be a place where they can recharge and just unwind. Because ultimately, that’s what we believe a teenager wants.«
What should you take away from a visit to the exhibition?
»We aim to allow visitors to relax, recharge, and reflect on how this world functions and what role today’s teenagers will play in the future. We want visitors to realize that the resources on our planet are not infinite, and therefore, we recycle materials like festival tents to build this exhibition or make clothing from them.«
What societal trends does the installation address?
»We can see that sustainability is becoming a trend, and many companies are using it as a good marketing tool. The important thing for the future is to transition sustainability from being a trend to being an integrated part of the entire society’s life. And our installation refers to exactly that through the creative reuse of materials.«
What do you think teenagers need in their private spaces?
»They need their laptops, phones, or iPads to check their social media and stream their favorite TV shows, but beyond technology, they also need something to relax in – a bed, chair, or gaming chair. Something they can use comfortably for hours.«
Photo: Sofie Bøgegren
Who is Our Shift?
Our Shift is an activist fashion brand on a mission to transform the fashion land-scape. They offer ethical clothing that reflects circular principles and challenges overconsumption, creating garments using upcycling techniques that give new purposes to unconventional materials, such as abandoned festival tents or textile waste from the fashion industry.
Their primary working material is tents from Roskilde Festival.