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TRANSFORMATIONS: FROM the Slavic Clothing Tradition TO Contemporary Designs
EXHIBITION OPENING: Wednesday, 6 September 2023 at 7 pm
18.40 – 19.00
Arrival time and welcome drink
19.00 – 19.30
Opening ceremony, the audience will be addressed:
– Biljana Jotić, director of the Museum of Applied Art
– Andreja Rihter, author of the project and director of FSK
– Nenad Radujević, founder of Clilck fashion agency and Belgrade fashion week manifestation
– Miodrag Ivanović, State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture of RS, who will officially open the exhibition
19.30 – 20.00
Fashion performance, cooperation with the Belgrade fashion week
Short introduction of the exhibition by Stanislava Vauda Benčevič
20.00 – 21.00
Cocktail
ABOUT EXHIBITION
Author of the project: Andreja Rihter, PhD
Curator: Stanislava Vauda Benčevič
Organizers: the Museum of Applied Art, the Forum of Slavic Cultures and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.
The Transformations project has been implemented by the Forum of Slavic Cultures, a foundation established with the mission of connecting Slavic cultures. The project brings together selected participants from several countries in the context of exchange and transnational cooperation. The initial idea of the project was to initiate and encourage the creativity of fashion designers through the prism of the rich cultural heritage of Slavic countries.
At the first exhibition within the Transformations project in the Ljubljana City Hall in 2019 authored by Jožica Brodarič, the following designers were presented: Nikolaj Božilov (Bulgaria), Andrea Pojezdalova (Slovakia), Jelena Proković (Slovenia), Galina and Nikolaj Birjukov (Russia) and Nevena Ivanović (Serbia).
The second exhibition, which continues the journey of the Transformations project, and whose author is Stanislava Vauda Benčevič, will be presented to the Serbian capital’s audience at the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade during September of the current year. In addition to the aforementioned designers from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia and Serbia, the exhibition will also gather the following authors: Denisa Dovalova (Czechia), Ivana Murišić (Montenegro), Jelena Holec (Croatia), Kinga Krol (Poland) and Dragan Hristov (North Macedonia). They will appear before the audience with a total of 50 different original works of art created during the Transformations project.
The scenographic approach to the setting familiarizes the visitors with the ambience of the connectedness of Slavic cultures. The models are grouped in circles and joined together, reminiscent of the folklore dance where the dancers hold hands, suffused with the pervading scents of various herbs characteristic of the Slavic area: linden and thyme, as well as surrounded by authentic Slavic sounds, all of which creates a unique experience for all the senses.
The authors were inspired by the diverse past of the regions they originate from and which can be set off by embroideries, prints, fabrics, techniques, materials, patterns, and with garments that contain no end of symbolic and buried reminiscence.
The Transformations exhibition thematically combines traditional and contemporary design practices, as well as different generations of contemporary fashion designers. With the visions and collections of 10 authors, the project is now gaining tangible foundations for establishing a long-term platform for fashion creativity in Slavic countries – and affecting the world’s fashion capitals with its original sensibility.
An important part of the Transformations project, in addition to the opening ceremony, is the Art Circle, which the Museum of Applied Art organizes in cooperation with the Belgrade Fashion Week organization, with the aim of networking and exchanging experiences.
ACCOMPANYING PROGRAM OF THE EXHIBITION
Transformations: The Art Circle, МАА in cooperation with the FSC and the Belgrade Fashion Week organization
THE FORUM OF SLAVIC CULTURES
The mission of the Forum of Slavic Cultures is to create contacts and thereby, connections between the citizens of these thirteen Slavic countries. Thus, the cultural ties between the Slavic peoples are carefully renewed, expanded and strengthened. Connection and cooperation best encourage creativity, enriching the diversity of Slavic identities and strengthening cultural dialogue in the European and global space. The Forum is a traditional place for the exchange of valuable knowledge and experiences, and as a promoter of new ideas, the FSC is a place for eternally new possibilities and opportunities, says Andreja Rihter, PhD, author of the project, in the introductory text of the exhibition catalog.
“Slavic heritage, thus, inspires and binds. Why is it then that we can count the large local designers or fashion houses in Slavic capitals on the fingers of one hand?” Andreja Rihter, PhD, asked when she conceived the Transformation project in 2018. Dr Richter posed the main question in the catalog itself: “Can we transform the European map with original fashion creations, as we managed to do with museums and novels? Do we know that we are opening new perspectives, weaving future creations from the patterns and colors of tradition and also broadening horizons? With this exhibition, which is before us, the question has received an unequivocal answer.”
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE OPENING CEREMONY
GUIDANCE THROUGH THE EXHIBITION
