POLIMODA

POLIMODA
ART DIRECTING
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POLIMODA
ART DIRECTING
INTERNATIONAL MASTER
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Intuition Arms the Seeker
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Program
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Connections
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Workshops
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Employment Opportunities
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Course Structure
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Course Outline
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Final Project
45Contacts
46Credits
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INTUITION ARMS THE SEEKER
BY LINDA LOPPA
Art Directors are creative leaders and leaders of creativity, people endowed with an innate sensibility,
imagination and capacity to make decisions. They dig below the surface of everyday life to develop a
productive dialogue between vision, craft, visual art and the art of writing.
Art Directors coordinate and supervise all aspects of a creative organisation. In fashion and the luxury
industry they form a bond between the departments of design, branding and communication. Art
Directors may curate exhibitions, lead editorial activities or add a creative quotient to private or public
institutions.
However, what makes a great Art Director is intuition, the ability to read between the lines and
understand connections between the here and now, and the hereafter.
An Art Director brings what is considered as “unaccepted” inside the circle of the “accepted”,
continuously pushing ethics and aesthetics beyond their boundaries. It’s about the kind of innovation
that characterises fashion and luxury as a shared form of art, opening up new eras and spaces,
launching new products, people and styles.
This research-based program introduces creative thinking processes through a non-linear methodology
embracing curiosity, intuition and perception. The course is visionary yet practical, embracing all
possible concepts within six interconnected areas of study:
Craft, Calligraphy, Body, Dress, Imagery, and Space.
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PROGRAM
CONNECTIONS
BY ANDREA CAMMAROSANO
What really empowers a creative mind is the ability to delineate connections.
Covering six main areas (Body, Space, Calligraphy, Imagery, Craftsmanship and Dress)
this course enables unlimited possibilities. Whichever your background or field, this
program of intense exploration will change the way you look at your work, starting from an
autobiographical profile to defining your own personal creative challenges.
This advanced program is aimed at professionals who are looking to
achieve success through the development of creative thinking and the
creation of new stimulus and positive results that can be used either in their
existing working environment, or as an opportunity for career repositioning.
It has been put together as a sabbatical 1 year study program (40 weeks) by
experts in the field; Linda Loppa - with a career spanning over 40 years in
fashion, she is today one of the most noted faces of international education
in the industry. Together with Danilo Venturi, researcher, writer, lecturer,
and also Aki Choklat and Andrea Cammarosamo – both highly successful
international design professionals.
The program relies on a free-association of ideas, on interviewing and social surveying, with
constant exposure to practices outside our everyday experiences - for example from the
transformation of materials such as ‘alchemy’, to the meticulous detail in miniature painting
to video art. The aim of this exposure is to expand problem-solving techniques and primarily,
expand vision.
The program creates an environment that stimulates curiosity with a
significant part of the core hours spent outside the classroom and inside;
top level companies, public and private institutes, research and creative
labs, studios, museums and galleries etc.
During the program participants will analyse their findings and create a
final project such as a garment or an accessories collection, a professional
lecture, a winning marketing concept or esthetic model etc.
However, like all convincing and successful qualities, a ‘vision’ must also be tried and tested.
This is why part of the program focuses on the feasibility and hands on creation of samples,
installations, and graphics so that through the acts of trial and error, and of creating and
testing, your vision will grow even stronger.
No other course offers this methodology; a new way of examining knowledge and exploring
creative possibilities.
As well as resident lectures, the program includes workshops and high
profile guest speakers by external visionaries, all of which are fundamental
to the innovative teaching process.
On successful completion, participants will be awarded the diploma: Master
in Art Directing.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder,
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The Tower of Babel (detail)
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WORKSHOPS
COURSE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
BY AKI CHOKLAT
The objective of the workshop is to expose participants to each area
of study while also providing a useful practical aspect. Ultimately, solid
grounded skills will be used to create a result;
Exposure + Practice = Result.
Each workshop is based on three concepts:
Exposure (Gathering)
Practice(Skill)
Result (Creation)
Exposure:
The purpose of the first part is to become completely exposed to the
subject.
Full immersion is gained through literature, museum, gallery, studio and
workshop visits, and through tutors expertise (power point, personal work
presentations etc…).
Exposure is the beginning of research, where information and raw materials
are collected to create a foundation for the rest of the workshop. This is an
opportunity to view, listen and collect impressions.
Objective: Gathering raw material.
Career development opportunities are vast. This program not only provides an
opportunity for professional growth and additional success in your existing field,
but it also opens up new job profiles based on a combination of creative, visionary
and leadership skills including: creative director, art director, fashion and art
curator, marketing manager, magazine editor, storyteller, set designer etc.
Admission:
This advanced course is open to professionals and graduates with industry
experience. It has been put together as a ‘sabbatical’ 1 year study program
(40 weeks). Applicants with no academic degree but with significant working
experience will be considered.
To apply candidates are requested to send a written presentation of their
professional profile and experience together with a motivation letter that includes
details of a creative challenge that they are interested in following and would be
willing to undertake for example; the launch of a new brand or a new product, an
editorial project, a curatorial project etc.
Successful candidates will be selected after an interview with the program leader.
Please note: places are limited.
The success of this advanced program is based on the creation of small class
sizes ensuring a high level of instruction and interaction throughout.
Practice:
It is important to get firsthand experience and practice.
By ‘practicing what you preach’, participants are connected to the ‘craft’ of
the subject. We are all too dependent on existing tools and technology; we
need to have a more profound understating of the materials that are used in
creativity, whether it’s an oil painting or photograph. Creative processes and
end results are more interesting when participants create their own tools or
raw materials.
In academic style workshops it is important to “understand” the raw
material, for example to hold a ‘real photo’ as opposed to only viewing
digital ones.
Objective: Learning a new skill.
Result:
Materials collected during primary research will also be utilised in the final
project. Participants will need to demonstrate and present the results of
each individual workshop either as early research, or as part of ongoing
development towards the final product. The aim of each workshop is to
produce a useful positive outcome, so that the benefits from ‘research,
materials and skills’ can be applied toward the final project.
Objective: Creation (Raw material + skill)
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Six Content Areas
Course Structure
Daniel Sannwald / Delfina Delettrez
Dia Dear
Dirk Van Saene
Ronald Stoops / Jurgi Persoons
Florence / Santa Maria Novella (Detail)
Florence / Villa Favard
IMAGERY
BODY
DRESS
CALLIGRAPHY
CRAFT
SPACE
Subject matter:
Subject matter:
Subject matter:
Subject matter:
Subject matter:
Subject matter:
Photology
The spirit of time
Graphic design
Visual communication
Production materials
Film and video art
...
Sculpting
Designing
Humans and artifacts
Body art
Protection and resistance
Social theory of the body
...
Pattern theory
History and philosophy of fashion
Textiles and performance
Design workshops
Construction techniques
Styling
...
Writing
Textual communication
Gesture and expression
Communication strategies
Expressionism
Opinion leadership
...
Lab Research,
Manuality and problem solving,
Craft in Art Directing,
Restoration,
Brand identity,
Innovation management
...
Fashion and Art Curating
Installation
Architecture
Museology
Space and function
Social landscape
...
Outcome and goals:
Outcome and goals:
Outcome and goals:
Outcome and goals:
Outcome and goals:
Outcome and goals:
identify images within an array
of materials;
manipulate images;
create new layouts for
new communication purposes.
understand the fundamental
principles of functional esthetics and
communication connected
to the human body;
understand body types in relation to
human profiles.
build the base of a silhouette;
learn the principles of 3D
construction;
construct and deconstruct shapes;
represent designs graphically.
express concepts and ideas through
gesture and manual creation;
choose paper ink layouts;
understand written communication
history.
increase one’s manuality;
explore traditional techniques study new
applications; source laboratories for
specific projects; give value to
craftmanship through brand identity.
understand the structure, purpose, history
and symbolism of spaces;
create maquettes and installations;
create new space and reconvert existing
space in relation to its historical function
and its user’s profile.
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Three Moments
Course Structure
The program is divided into three main periods. Each period or “moment”
is designed to stimulate a specific creative quality:
Curiosity >
Intuition >
Vision >
Experience / Intuition
Expression / Vision
weeks 1-13
weeks 14-27
weeks 28-40
In this first period students meet experts in
specific fields who will talk about their work
and personal research, emphasizing the
specificity of their activity. Experts will include
artisans, scientists, sociologists, curators,
art-directors, perfume makers and fashion
designers.
The second part of the program
focuses on:
Starting from the visual research of parts 1
and 2 and from the sample material created in
part 2, participants have ten weeks to create
a visual project choosing two or more content
areas as their focus.
Similarly, visits are organised to areas of
excellence in history and art: for instance,
to the monasteries of San Miniato and of
San Galgano, the Cappelle Medicee and the
Stibbert Museum in Florence. These visits
will enable participants to ‘feel’ and discuss
these spaces, and examine how they affect
the environment around them. The visits also
provide a starting point to discuss the practice
of selecting and collecting exhibits and the
ways in which they are displayed. Visits will
be integrated with trips to major exhibitions
and museums in Italy (Milan, Rome, Verona,
Turin...) providing students with an insight into
different ways of curating.
3) Creation of new samples.
Exposure
Experiment
Expression
Lavinia Fontana,
Portrait of Antonietta Gonzales
Curiosity is the main assumption of
knowledge.
By definition it knows no boundaries: this is
the starting point of the course. Curiosity
feeds on questions: this course creates a
stimulating environment around interviews
and research and explores remote areas of
knowledge including paper making, alchemy
and miniature design, all with the aim to feed
on curiosity.
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Exposure / Curiosity
Carlos Aires,
Untitled (Happily Ever After)
Intuition is the ability to solve problems
through bypassing conscious reasoning; it
is often the mark of genius. This quality is
highlighted by free-association and freethinking. Workshops will be based on collage
techniques allowing interaction with the flow
of consciousness, overcoming preconceptions
and, if necessary, interfering with logic in
order to analyse new findings. Intuition also
requires empathy:
surveys and interviews will expand on this
kind of knowledge.
Daniel Sannlwald,
Untitled
Vision is the power of connecting; building
bridges where they do not exist. This
multidisciplinary side to the program aims
to create connections between the different
areas. This hybridisation can therefore
create new visions. The accent is on
discussion, autobiography and character
building; creating leadership through
authorship.
Finally, a series of interviews with
personalities from different backgrounds
and communities will enable participants to
identify different human types and profiles,
learning to portray them as they learn to
portray themselves.
1) Further research on specific themes;
lectures on specific areas of creativity
2) Analysis of materials collected;
The material collected in the first period will
be examined through stream of consciousness
and free association, and manipulated through
collage. These connections will be analysed in
order to create a visual mind map.
Finally, the experiments conducted in craft lab
and dress lab will be used to create sample
material to be employed in the final project.
The emphasis of this period is on “Intuition”.
Participants are required to make individual
connections between the six content areas
(Craft, Calligraphy, Body, Dress, Imagery, and
Space) and to motivate these connections in
the weekly group discussions.
A first proposal of the project is presented in
week 28;
a global revision will then take place in week
34; the final projects will be presented in
week 40.
The projects are created in free laboratories
(60% hours) and through workshop classes
and tutoring (40% hours).
The project should emphasize individuality
and authorship, but participants are also
required to document its utility, applications
and implications as well as to trace the origin
and development of the process, by relating it
to the workshops attended and to the group
discussions.
The final project may consist of a book, a
magazine, a lecture, a fashion or accessories
collection, a sculpture or performance, an
installation, a replica of an object or craft
technique, or any combinations of these.
Though this period is extensively based on
visits, participants will be asked to gather
material and information in a carefully
compiled journal, to participate actively in
weekly class discussions, and to create visual
reports of their assigned individual and group
projects.
The emphasis of this period is on “Curiosity”:
to create an environment of uncommon,
specific information that can trigger
connections and further research.
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COURSE OUTLINE
Exposure
Experiments
Expression
1. Vision
2. Archaeology of the Present
3. Intimacy
4. The Spectacle of the Other
5. Collage
1. Transformation
2. Function
3. Construction
4. Appropriation
5. Connections
Workshops +
Final Project
From the right, clockwise:
Superstudio, Monumento Continuo
Daniel Sannwald, Sofia Bartos / Wallpaper Magazine
Federico Fellini, Casanova
Frederick Heymans, Bullet Magazine
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1. Vision
Week 1-3
Moment: Exposure
SPACES / ACTIVITIES
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
This section focuses on the quality of “vision”.
The concept of ‘vision’ will be discussed and two of its main components
will be explored: the Image and the Idea, in order to identify what
elements can produce a powerful vision.
1.1
What is an image?
Villa Favard / Lectures and Interviews
1.2
Moving image vs still image
Teatro Comunale
1.3
Filmology and reports
Teatro La Pergola
1.4
Blind Fashion: fashion beyond fashion
Movie Theatres
1.5
Dubbing: Image and soundtrack
1.6 Workshop / Guest Lecture I. Image
What is an image? And what makes an image powerful?
Humans continuously produce images, but not all images have the same
value.
Students will be asked to isolate key-images within photo collections, and
produce personal images during the visits to libraries and museums.
These are also the questions that will be put to the guest lecturers. The
importance of questions as well as of answers will be stressed, and each
theme will be approached from a specific, non-conventional point of view,
for instance the implications of visual impairment for fashion or dubbing
for film making.
II. Idea
Innovators such as Linda Loppa, Oliver Saillard, Imran Ahmed will
document an idea that changed their lives, their work, or their way
of looking at things. This will be the starting point for looking into the
process of intuition, of non-linear thinking, of connecting apparently
disconnected areas, thus outlining a possible research path
during and after the course.
LABORATORIES
Keeping a Journal
Museum / Photo Reports
Film Reports
OUTCOMES
This section introduces the goals of the course as well as a possible work
method;
it also looks into the specific challenges of fashion, marketing and
esthetics to stimulate the curiosity of participants.
Image: Andrea Cammarosano
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2. Archaeology of the Present
Weeks 4-6
Moment: Exposure
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
In this section participants explore the city environment, through the
sourcing and creation of images. At the same time, they will look for
traces of the present in the past, and imagine a possible future.
2.1 Museums
Museo La Specola and
2.2 Streets and Antique Markets
Antropology Museum
I. Sourcing Images
Participants will explore traditional sources such as libraries, archives,
magazine stores, galleries, museums, exhibitions, as well as less
traditional sources such as botanical gardens, flea markets, train stations,
public events and fairs, and the city as a whole with its streets, its
buildings and hinterland. They will also be required to select and create
their own images: take pictures, snapshots, movie stills, draw illustrations
and collect the material they find. All this material will be gathered in a
detailed journal.
2.3
History and geography of dress / Pitti
Catasto Fiorentino
2.4
Collecting and archiving
Corridoio Vasari and Palazzo Pitti
2.5
Mapping and Topography
Galleria del Costume
2.6
Archaeology of the Present
II. Archaeology of the Present
By exploring the city extensively, participants will be able to make
connections between history, urban planning and the present; for
instance, through research at the Catasto and at the Istituto Geografico
Militare. They will also be required to draw their own map of the city.
Groups will be assigned areas of interests / buildings that they will have
to imagine and re-imagine at different times in history through written
and graphical descriptions.
SPACES / ACTIVITIES
LABORATORIES
Keeping a Journal
Museum / Photo Reports
Maps
Interviews
OUTCOMES
Images, drawings, photographies and objects will be accumulated for
further experiments; students will get acquainted with the city, its history
and some of its resources; and will learn to keep a journal and to locate
themselves in time.
Image: Giuseppe Maria Crespi
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3. Intimacy
Weeks 7-9
Moment: Exposure
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
Identity is at the core of leadership; the goal of this section is to identify
elements of our identity and to communicate or conceal them through
different media.
3.1
SPACES / ACTIVITIES / VISITS
Life Drawing
Accademia dell’Arte
3.2
Biography / Autobiography
Officine di Santa Maria Novella
I. Portraiture
Students will examine and create their own portraits and self-portraits
(employing either sound, video, photo and illustration), biography and
autobiography, calligraphy and signature, perfume and scent, space and
spirituality. Motivations and core beliefs will be discussed. Interviews
with fashion designers, artists and curators will foster the perception of
the link between autobiography and practice.
3.3
Portraiture / Self-Portraiture
Monastero di San Miniato
3.4
Perfume
Sculpture Studios
3.5
Monastery: Spiritual Space
Giardino Dell’Orticultura
3.6
Dance and Calligraphy
II Body
Participants will attend life-drawing classes to understand the body and
its volumes; visit sculpture laboratories; watch live and recorded dance
performances.
3.7
Body and space measurement
III Space
The definition of a “personal space” where one can think, work
and create is of great importance in the course. Visits to Florentine
Monasteries will give an insight into spiritual spaces and into the
handwork that is created in these spaces.
Participants will create reports about their personal spaces and share
them with other people.
OUTCOMES
LABORATORIES
Drawing and Portraiture
Text and Bio
Calligraphy
Creating awareness about one’s body and identity; stimulating empathy
and curiosity between participants; introducing different examples of
body shapes, portraiture, communication and starting to build a personal
workspace.
Image: Inge Grognard and Ronald Stoops
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4. The Spectacle of the Other
Weeks 10-11
Moment: Exposure
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
After defining “identity”, the concept of “diversity”is explored. On the
one hand, students will examine the ways in which the exotic can be
portrayed in fashion, art and advertising. On the other hand, they will
look at first-hand examples of diversity: studying the geography of ethnic
costumes; bringing in examples from their own cultures; portraying and
interviewing people of different age and ethnicity.
4.1
Experiments with the Mirror
Anthropology Museum and Collections
4.2
Exotism and Orientalism
Museo Tessile di Prato
4.3
Ethnical Dress
Polimoda LIbrary
4.4
Travel Literature
Stibbert Museum
4.5
Performing Dress / Theatre + Workwear
Sant’Ambrogio Market / Interviews
4.6
Research and Interviews
Caffé Letterario Le Murate / Interviews
I. Exoticism
“Exoticism” is the way in which one specific culture portrays another;
historical examples of this attitude can be found from ancient travel
literature to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, to modern approaches.
Participants will carry out further research and document it through text
and graphic material.
II. Culture, Esthetics, Dress
Participants will make a detailed geographical study of ethnic dress,
thanks to material from the Polimoda LIbrary, the Biblioteca Nazionale, the
Alinari Archives, the Stibbert Museum, and the Textile Museum of Prato.
They will conduct reportages around town interviewing people of different
age and ethnicity. Participants will be asked to focus on an aspect of a
specific culture (a food recipe, a textile decoration technique, a challenge
of a certain life stage) and to study it in detail in a journal.
SPACES / ACTIVITIES / VISITS
LABORATORIES
Drawing and Portraiture
Text and Bio
Survey and Interview
Essay
OUTCOMES
Learning about the implications of different codes of portraiture; building
and understanding human profiles; developing techniques of survey and
interview.
Image: Frederik Heymans
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5. Collage
Weeks 12-13
Moment: Exposure
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
SPACES / ACTIVITIES / VISITS
In this final part of Period One, “Exposure”, participants are assigned an
individual space to lay out the materials they have collected. Images will
be displayed on the tables, floors, walls and ceilings, following personal
intuition and flow of consciousness.
Creations will have to occupy the environment, not decorate it. In this
module students visit frescoes and restoration sites, tapestries and
wallpapers.
5.1
Imagery Lab
Image Lab
5.2
Mind Map / Analysis
Collage and Dé-collage Techniques
5.3
Collage Lab
Palazzo Borghese / Wallpaper and Tapestry
5.4
Group Discussion
Cappella Brancacci
Museo Dell’Opera di Santa Croce
Through this process, images for further development will be selected,
and connections between different images will be identified.
Materials will then be manipulated through techniques of freeassociation: layering, photocopying, collage and décollage. Through
these techniques, new images and new meanings will be produced from
existing materials. These new meanings will be analysed through writing,
mind maps and group discussion.
The result will be a series of personal, large-scale collage compositions
that will provide the environment and the working frame for period Two,
“Experiment”.
LABORATORIES
Imagery and Photology
Collage
Written Analysis
OUTCOMES
Developing powerful mood-boards and presentations; increasing intuitive
abilities; stimulating free-thinking; manipulating images; altering the
meaning of existing
material.
Image: Wall, Florence
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1. Transformation
Week 14-16
Moment: Experiment
SPACES / ACTIVITIES
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
The second section of the course focuses on the creation of samples
(materials, ideas, shapes); the properties and transformations of materials
will be the starting point.
1.1
Fabric and Material Sourcing
Villa Strozzi
1.2
Industrial Techniques
Craft Laboratory
I. Materials
Participants will research materials used in fashion, accessories and
product design and learn where to source them; the focus will be on
their physical properties, in order to have an understanding of what can
be done with them and how. This module includes visits to textile and
industrial manufacturers, trade fairs and laboratories of plastic
techniques.
1.3
Plastics and Rubber Vulcanisation
Clothing Factories
1.4
Alchemy and Chemistry
Opificio delle Pietre Dure
1.5
History of Paper and Ink
Woodwork studios
1.6
Hybrid Nature
II. Transformation
Alchemy will enable to look into the symbolic meaning of materials and
into the implications of transformation. Starting from there, experiments
will be made with evolution, natural history, hybridisation, and the
transformation of information (history of the manuscript, of ink and paper;
the oral and written transmission of information; information in the digital
era).
LABORATORIES
Keeping a Journal
Museum / Photo Reports
Film Reports
OUTCOMES
Providing students with tools and ideas for future handworks; promoting
curiosity through unusual disciplines such as alchemy and miniature.
Image: Narelle Dore
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2. Function
Weeks 17-19
Moment: Experiment
SPACES / ACTIVITIES
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
Understanding the function of dress and of space is essential to proper
design and communication. Experiments will allow to examine the
functional aspect of specific case studies.
2.1
Workwear and Uniforms
Stibbert Museum
2.2
Orthopedics and Prosthetics
Stewart Archive
I. Extreme Fashion
Fashion is not only related to esthetics but also to protection; workwear
and military gear offer an insight into the extremes of this protection experiments will be carried out with armour, technical suits, pressurized
suits, technical fabrics. Partecipants will play with accumulation and
pressure, documenting their experiments through sketches,
pictures and videos and conducting styling projects.
2.3
Religious Apparel
Ospedale Psichiatrico di Pistoia
2.4
Space and Function
Stazione Leopolda
2.5
People in Space
Clothing Archive Bologna
2.6
Public Art and Architecture II. Space
Understanding the function of a space in its structure, context and
location will lead to the identification of new possible uses. Participants
will observe people inside spaces and the way they interact with them,
conduct surveys and interviews, research into the history of spaces and
the functions associated with them. The focus will be as much on the
esthetics as on the social commentaries of these spaces.
LABORATORIES
Sketching
Life Drawing
Pattern and Draping
OUTCOMES
Learning to build new shapes from the ground up; representing them
graphically and technically; understanding the transformation from 2D to
3D; working with proportion;
examining concepts of lightness, heaviness and endurance; developing
case-specific construction techniques.
Image: Ruggero Mengoni, Andrea Cammarosano
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3. Construction
Weeks 20-22
Moment: Experiment
SPACES / ACTIVITIES
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
Participants will create shapes in different materials using advanced
pattern techniques. At the same time, they will challenge the resistance
of the body through experiments with armour, uniforms and pressurised
suits.
2.1
Thinking Shape / Drawing Lab
Vintage Stores and Fairs
2.2
Architectural Design
Stewart Archive
2.3
Architecture of the Body
Giardino dell’Orticultura
2.4
Advanced Construction Techniques
Faculty of Architecture
2.5
Workwear
2.6
Armours and Bodysuits
I. Imagine Shape
What is a shape and where is it created? Significant formal elements
will be identified from previous research, new shapes will be developed
from the ground up through different stages: imagination, sketching,
design. Participants will learn to build an array of consistent shapes and
variations as a base for a collection of apparel, accessories
or products.
II. Pattern Theory
LABORATORIES
Once designs are developed, they will be created in 3D through advanced
construction techniques - pattern design, draping and moulage. The same
shapes will be replicated in materials with different weights: from paper
to canvas, cardboard, wood, metal, carefully re-drawing each creation in
order to understand the translation between 2D and 3D.
Sketching
Life Drawing
Pattern and Draping
OUTCOMES
Learning to build new shapes from the ground up; representing them
graphically and technically; understanding the transformation from 2D to
3D; working with proportion; examining concepts of lightness, heaviness
and endurance; developing case-specific construction techniques.
Image: Craig Green
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4. Appropriation
Weeks 23-25
Moment: Experiment
SPACES / ACTIVITIES
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
At this point students will be encouraged to start making suggestions
about how to use the material they have accumulated. After having
looked at the work of artists, designers and at the heritage of entire
cultures, it is important to understand how these inputs can be
transformed into personal work.
4.1
Image and space appropriation
Aula Magna / Lectures and Discussion
4.2
Second Hand and Vintage
Antique Restoration Lab
4.3
Craft Laboratories
Scuola di Restauro
I. Appropriation
What gives us the right to use an image? Who protects the intellectual
properties of an entire culture? How do we interpret an idea without
creating a fake?
Understanding the potential dangers of appropriation is essential in a
world where images are constantly extrapolated from their context.
Copyright issues will be discussed through examples and exercises.
4.4
Replicas / Restoration
Markets and vintage fairs
4.5
Theatre Workshop
4.6
Styling Workshop
II. Imitation
Participants will create replicas of objects and decoration, discuss
imitation in calligraphy and through styling, and carry out photographic
experiments playing with different personas to create a “fake”. They will
also look into the practice of “Restoration” in painting and in clothing and
discuss its history, its conceptual significance and possible approaches.
Participants will be asked to re-contextualise people, objects and places
from the past through written and visual reports.
LABORATORIES
Craft
Replica and Restoration
Lectures
OUTCOMES
Creating intellectual ownership; creating brand identity; re-contextualising
people, objects and places; learning manual techniques of replication
and restoration; examining ethical issues of copyrights and intellectual
property.
Image: Ruggero Mengoni / Xmena Gonzalez
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5. Connections
Weeks 26-27
Moment: Experiment
SPACES / ACTIVITIES
OVERVIEW
SUBJECTS
The laboratories of Period Three, ‘Expression’, are introduced in this
section.
Students discuss ideas for the final project and identify their personal
roadmap defining calendars, schedules and budget plans.
5.1
Bridging across Media
Villa Favard
5.2
Project Management
Villa Strozzi
5.3
Schedule, Calendar, Budget Plan
I. Connections
5.4
Building Space Maquettes
As in the “Collage” section, students will display all the material
they have collected to create different layouts and installations, again
taking advantage all of the available space. These installations will
be experimented with an audience, and impressions will be collected
through group discussions and surveys. The goal is to create bridges
between the different areas: imagery, body, space, dress, calligraphy,
craftsmanship.
Participants will create different proposals of connections, the best ones
will then be selected and analysed in depth and subsequently students
will start drafting their final project.
5.5
Manifesto
5.6
Presentation
II. Project Management
Participants will learn the main steps in planning and managing a
multidisciplinary project, define calendars, schedules, budget plans. and
create visually appealing project plans and proposals for a prospective
investor.
LABORATORIES
Maquettes
Product Analysis
Project Management
OUTCOMES
Creating connections between different medias and thematic areas;
analysing products; defining communication strategies; defining logistics
roadmaps and schedules for the final project.
Image: Gert Jan Kocken
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THE FINAL PROJECT
WEEKS 28-40
1 PROJECT
6 DISCIPLINES
18 CREATIONS
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The Final Project
Weeks 28-40
Moment: Expression
OVERVIEW
TUTORS
The Final Project starts deliberately as a blank canvas.
The only requirement is to bridge different thematic areas.
Participants can structure their project for a specific brand or customer,
however this is not mandatory; it is essential however that they describe
its aesthetic, conceptual, social or corporate utility.
Polimoda tutors with specific expertise will supervise each workshop,
inviting external academics and artists to follow specific projects
according to the needs of each partecipant
Six macro workshops will be held over the final twelve weeks to help
participants in the realisation of their final project. Each of them will
be structured as a free workshop where participants will be followed
individually by a tutor.
OUTCOMES
These are just some of the elements that can be integrated
in the final project:
BODY: performance, social survey, sculpture, portraiture
DRESS: fashion or accessories collection, pattern study, historical dress
replica, styling
IMAGERY: magazine, video, art book, visual concept
CRAFTSMANSHIP: written and visual study of a craft;
craft as brand identity; replica and restoration of objects
CALLIGRAPHY: text; manuscript (research or creation);
calligraphy on 3D, dress or in space
SPACE: Installation; curatorial projects; mock-up of stores, galleries or
public space; analysis of a space.
Image: Craig Green, David Curtis-Ring, Helen Price
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The Final Project
Weeks 28-40
Moment: Expression
IMAGERY
BODY
DRESS
CALLIGRAPHY
CRAFT
SPACE
A magazine
A video
A visual concept
A choreography
A scuplture
A portrait
An outfit
A performance
An installation
A text
A manuscript
A 3D calligraphic object
A replica
A sweater
A material
A curatorial project
A mock up of a store
A museum
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For more information :
http://www.polimoda.com/en/courses.html
Or contact us at
POLIMODA
Villa Favard
Via Curtatone, 1 - Florence
from Monday to Friday
from 9.00am to 8.00pm
Ph. + 39 055 275061
www.polimoda.com
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THANK YOU
To our extended network of inspirators,
thinkers, artists, friends:
Daniel Sannwald (DE) / Dia Dear (USA) / Dirk Van Saene
(BE) / Ronald Stoops (BE) / Frederik Heymans (BE) /
Carlos Aires (ES) / Andrea Cammarosano (ITA) / Narelle
Dore (AU) / Ruggero Mengoni (ITA) / Craig Green (UK) /
Ximena Gonzalez (MEX) / Gert Jan Kocken (NL)
Texts by: Linda Loppa, Aki Choklat,
Andrea Cammarosano
Graphic Design by Andrea Cammarosano
All text property of Polimoda
Cannot be reproduced without authorisation
©Polimoda 2014
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