The project called Locus Artis - places of crafts as spaces for new design practices is a project that the Center for Research of Fashion and Clothing (CIMO) continues on a broader research work started in 2016 called Fashion micro-production - a space for new design practices. The results confirmed the research methods and continued in the direction of focused research on dressing practices in the suburban and rural area outside Zagreb on the stereotype of "aunty" with the conceptual framework "design vs craft". Based on this, the project focuses on two key concepts:
- Locus as a place and context of local thinking: space, location, mapping, indexing, narration and transfer of memory, analysis of material and visual documentation and presentation, documentation, archiving, as well as analysis through critical reflection on theoretical approach and critical reflection on individual cognitive experience;
- Ars, artis as art, skill, experience, tradition, materials, craft techniques and technologies, organization, (micro) production, placement, reflections of (micro) markets, with emphasis on the entire conceptual and production process.
This project examines forms of crafts and craft micro-productions, characterized by traditional ways of working in a format from handicrafts to craft technologies used for individual rather than serial production, and where the relationship to work and object affirms hand, integral work process and symbolic power individual work and creative approach.
The results represent a combination of problematizing a concrete place (locus) and concrete work (ars, artis) as a relationship between the horizontal (space) and the vertical (production).
Traditional productions represent the production potential, preserve and affirm the "human measure", and we see them as a potential space for new design practices, as a vital space that offers change in terms of the relationship between design and artistic craft (design versus craft). Starting from today's new clothing theories and practices, the focus is on questioning traditional and local values (as opposed to globalization policies), on individual and ethical approaches to clothing outside the fashion system, striving for slow fashion and sustainability. Zagreb is a place, a topos, on the edges of which and the nearby rural surroundings persist traditional crafts, tools and practices with all the elements of the concept of slow fashion. The basic concept of the project is the clothing of ''aunty'' as part of the traditional peasant, rural aspect of dressing.
The godmother discarded the folk costume by building a utilitarian clothing style that represents a mixture of urban and rural.
The term ''aunty'' appears as a case study in which it is possible to question the identity, representations and cultural practices of the modern peasantry today. On the other hand, ''aunty'' as well as the wider rural and suburban context are becoming research as well as creative material.
* The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture, Education and Sports of the City of Zagreb for 2017., and BLOK Gallery.
* Copyright © cimo - center for research of fashion and clothing. All rights reserved.
*Photos: private archives t.v.
Two aunties
