Polimoda Duets Series

Polimoda launches documentary series with cultural icons, starting with Marina Abramović

Polimoda has launched Polimoda Duets, a series of documentary interview videos with icons of contemporary culture, whose first installment features pioneer and founder of performance art Marina Abramović. With this new project, the fashion institute opens its doors to the worlds of art, music, cinema and modern culture, broadening its collaboration with key industry figures – currently ranging from the Polimoda Rendez-Vous series to the Fashion Discussion panel discussions – with a new exclusive video format. In each episode, a global cultural legend will be interviewed by a select interlocutor – from top journalists to scholars and experts in the field – to discuss key themes of contemporary society.

The first Polimoda Duets: Marina Abramović, published on YouTube, Instagram TV and Facebook, features Polimoda in conversation with one of the most celebrated artists of our time, conducted in occasion of the exhibit Marina Abramović. The Cleaner held in Palazzo Strozzi. Retracing the essence of her work, Abramović places her creative pursuits in dialogue with contemporary society, deeming it dominated by the desire for success and political correctness, the omnipresence of technology and overexposure on social media. In her interview, Abramović explains how performance art can sway humans back to simplicity, putting them in touch with their own emotions.


"I would really like to create something called the 'Abramović method,' a way to help people see how they can become more confident with themselves, because in our [human] relations, technology has taken our senses away. We don't use telepathy, we don't use existential perception, we don't use intuition; we have become robots. So my work is really to go back to simplicity, to our own selves.”

Complementing the video project, in occasion of the exhibition and in collaboration with the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Polimoda students will take part in a series of workshops dedicated to the artist's work, an initiative aimed at deepening their understanding of themes surrounding art design and its interaction with the world of fashion.

"If education is the link between culture and professional realities, then our task as educators is to accompany young minds towards the discovery and understanding of these two universes, which together lay the foundation for the development of personal identity and professional growth" explains Polimoda Director Danilo Venturi. "At Polimoda, we chose to accomplish this mission by giving a voice to leading figures of contemporary culture, offering both our students and a wider audience the opportunity to meet, listen and learn from their experiences. This has been the guiding philosophy for our Polimoda Rendez-Vous, the monthly series of guest lectures with key figures in fashion, among which Marco Bizzarri and Renzo Rosso, and our itinerant panel discussion Fashion Displacement, which annually joins leading experts in fashion and education around the world to discuss the sector’s most pressing issues. Today, with the Polimoda Duets video project, we open ourselves to the contemporary culture surrounding fashion, interviewing some of the most iconic figures in the global cultural landscape. 

Credits:
In collaboration with Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi
In occasion of Marina Abramović. The Cleaner at Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze
Idea: Danilo Venturi
Interview: Francesco Brunacci
Video & Music: Piero Fragola & Elephant Studio
Special thanks to Polimoda Students: Marceau Gadeau, Jose Farelo, Jovana Filipovic

www.polimoda.com