Installation
MQ Artist-in-Residence Edwin Adokwei Boye: After Fashion, Life!

12.02. – 15.04.2026
MQ Schauraum Anita Fuchs| MQ Showrooms, free admission
 

Opening: Wed 11.02.2026, 18h – the following openings will take place on the same evening in other MQ Showrooms and at the eSeL reception, as well as in MQ Raum D:

MQ Artist-in-Residence Selbi Jumayeva l Steppe Synanthropies: Data Tapestry

artVideoLoop: Ursula Maria Probst & Raashish India - PEACE STARTS WITH A SMILE

Martin Markeli: Open Atelier – Back from Miami candy

MQ Artist-in-Residence Ausstellung: Artistic Gathering

MQ Artist-in-Residence Edwin Adokwei Boye, who lives and works at the MuseumsQuartier from January to February 2026 as part of the MQ focus Art & Ecology, presents an installation created during his residency in the showroom of Anita Fuchs. It consists of discarded garments that he collected in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and in Vienna. His work enters into a direct dialogue with Anita Fuchs’ artistic project Versuchsfeld1 as well as with the sustainability programme MQ Goes Green, which understands ecological issues as part of a comprehensive process of transformation.

The textile work of the Ghanaian artist makes visible the ecological consequences of the overproduction of the fast-fashion industry in the Global South. The Kantamanto Market in Accra alone—one of the largest second-hand clothing hubs in the world—receives more than 10 million used garments every week, many of which are unusable. Around 160 tonnes of textile waste end up daily at Ghana’s illegal landfill sites, polluting land and waterways and releasing toxic pollutants when burned. This results in severe health risks for the population and poses a serious threat to local biodiversity. While over the past two years Anita Fuchs has deliberately cultivated the former lawn area in front of the MuseumsQuartier and transformed it into a species-rich wildflower meadow, Boye’s installation presents a “test field” that refers to the global fashion industry, Western consumer behaviour, and “waste colonialism.”

In his installation, the artist replaces organic materials and biological processes with a textile-based artificial environment, creating a parallel, man-made ecosystem. The textile sun does not point to the transformation of light into matter in the sense of photosynthesis, but rather to the anthropocentric transformation of the planet. The earth is no longer the material that is cultivated and from which life emerges. Instead, discarded textiles—assembled and painted—become artificial plants and grasses. Textile remnants serve as artificial matter to shape landscapes and simulate life: After Fashion, Life!

Curator: Elisabeth Hajek

Edwin Adokwei Boye (*1997 in Accra, Ghana) is a self-taught visual artist working in the fields of Afro-Surrealism, sustainability, and cultural storytelling. He developed his passion for art through extensive research during his marketing studies at the University of Professional Studies in Accra. In 2023, his solo exhibition Science of My Untamed Thoughts was shown at the Goethe-Institut Ghana in Accra. In 2025, he collaborated with Austrian artist Zoe Köbrunner on a public intervention that initiated a dialogue on textile transformation. Boye received funding from the Goethe-Institut in 2023. His works are held in private and institutional collections. Since 2025, he has been the manager of Berj Gallery in Accra, where he previously worked as a staff member for four years.

Photo © Maria Hernanglez