Black rubber is not a typical centerpiece for an artistic body of work. The inner tubes that keep bikes steadfast, or the treads that hold cars to the asphalt in a storm, are elements of day-to-day life for many that are often overlooked. But black rubber is a valuable material, one that French artist Marie Hazard and Portuguese designer Constança Entrudo take particular care in exploring as part of their collaborative exhibition, Ad hoc.

Entrudo and Hazard met while studying Textile Design at the world-renowned arts and design college Central Saint Martins. Employing her knowledge of textiles, Entrudo began constructing garments, developing her signature “un-woven” technique, in which recycled materials are manipulated with heat to create a more textured, deconstructed appearance and feel. After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2017, Entrudo worked at the Parisian fashion house Balmain before founding her own label and moving production to her home country of Portugal.

“When I think about my attraction to unusual color combinations and patterns, I often find myself thinking about the postmodern architecture I grew up around,” Entrudo said. “Different materials, colors, and styles coexist in ways that shouldn’t necessarily work together, but somehow do.”

Hazard came to Ad Hoc from another perspective: weaving. Since graduating from CSM, Hazard has blended various media in her work, from ancient literature to contemporary photography, creating a unique visual ensemble. It was Hazard who first employed tires in her work, weaving inner tubes together, resulting in a simple yet, intricate reflection on the raw material itself. From Dallas to Warsaw to Tokyo, Hazard’s work has been exhibited globally, and now her abilities are coming to the historic Soho loft, now operated by Studio2M.

“The audience was very receptive,” Hazard said about the exhibition, which opened on May 7th. “But I’m not sure most people truly realize that making a garment can take as much time as creating a work of art, and that its value is comparable to it.”

The creative duo has approached Ad Hoc differently from the traditional artist-designer collaboration. There is no ‘fashion section’ created solely by Entrudo, or an ‘art section’ produced only by Hazard. “Every piece was developed collaboratively,” Entrudo said. Ad Hoc serves as a conversation between Entrudo, Hazard, and Studio2M, led and founded by Abby Caulkins.

One of the many sources of inspiration for the duo’s project came from the space itself. The loft was formerly the live-in studio of sculptor Jackie Windsor. When Entrudo and Hazard began their work at Studio2M in the fall of last year, they discovered a 1992 interview in which Jackie Windsor discussed her first encounter with an artist meeting called “Ad Hoc,” a shortening of The Ad Hoc Committee of Women Artists.

The meeting was formed as a countermeasure to the underrepresentation of female artists in the biennial art survey conducted by New York’s Whitney Museum. Now, the women behind Ad Hoc share a name with the generation before them. Questions of time mingle with the other considerations presented by the interdisciplinary exhibition.

“Sometimes the way these collaborations are framed can diminish fashion’s role, positioning it merely as a vehicle for artistic ideas rather than as a creative discipline with its own intellectual and cultural contributions,” said Entrudo. “With Ad Hoc, we wanted to create a genuine exchange, less about authorship and more about real dialogue.”