Knickerbockers is a three-part installation that connects old and contemporary New York, Japan, and the Netherlands. The first part traces how all three places share a history through a garment called the Knickerbocker. The project as a whole reflects on how these locations have dealt, and continue to deal, with common human conditions in similar ways. Themes such as the pursuit of accomplishment, human limits, lack of physical touch, and emotional estrangement. At times, these methods are distinct, but sometimes they are strikingly alike. Knickerbockers considers how longing, both personal and collective, motivates the search for alternative forms of connection and meaning, mediated through objects, spaces, and human relationships.

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“Longing for what you can’t have” the second part of the Knickerbocker installation, explores desire and disconnection through a painting of a man in Knickerbocker pants flirting in old New York (New Amsterdam - Francis W. Edmonds, 1850), paired with an “emergency body pillow” encased and contextualized through Japanese, Dutch, and American definitions of a body pillow. They are all functioning in various ways as replacements for human partners. “Longing for what you can’t have” reflects themes of intimacy, loneliness, and the commodification of affection. It connects the first part of the installation, which talks about the Knickerbocker phenomena in the Netherlands, New York, and Japan, with the last part of the installation, “Giving you what you can have”. 

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Elaborate Explanation:

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Knickerbockers is a three-part project that traces the intertwined histories of New York, the Netherlands, and Japan through cultural symbols, personal reflection, and social observation.

 

The work begins with the story of the Knickerbockers, both the early New Yorkers and the distinctive pants that carry their name, unfolding how these identities and garments connect across continents and time.

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The second part, Longing for what you can’t have, explores distance, desire, and disconnection through a painting of a man in Knickerbocker pants flirting in old New Amsterdam (Francis W. Edmonds, 1850), paired with an “emergency body pillow” encased and contextualized through Japanese, Dutch, and American definitions. This juxtaposition reflects the confronting themes of intimacy, loneliness, and the commodification of affection in New York City.

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The final part, Giving you what you can have, introduces a vending machine created for the Dear All project. It is an attempt at an interactive gesture toward the city and its people.

 

As a whole, Knickerbockers examines how personal and collective longing shape the ways we seek connection, comfort, and meaning, revealing how these pursuits are expressed through objects, spaces, and human encounters across different cultures and times.