Europeana Fashion Symposium on "Fashion Digital Memories"

In the fantastic setting of Palazzo Badoer, in the heart of Venice, the Europeana Fashion International Association is organising this year, in collaboration with IUAV University of Venice and The New School – Parsons Paris, its annual symposium, titled "Fashion Digital Memories" and focused on Fashion Heritage and New Technologies.

The expression ‘Fashion heritage’ refers to a heterogeneous group of objects, different in nature and meaning. Lately, a general interest towards museum collections and archival materials related especially to fashion has been rising, demanding for access to this incredibly rich field of knowledge. It is the very variety of the ‘traces’ fashion leaves behind - not only clothes, but accessories, textiles, plates and magazines, sketches and photographs - that requires a reflection on what kind of technologies are better suited and how to apply them in order to preserve, disseminate and exploit these materials in all their potential.

The symposium gathers some of the most interesting case studies shaping their own practices in between the more traditional museum or archival practices with the new possibilities allowed by technology. These experiences nuance the relationship between fashion heritage and digital technologies; in presenting them all together, the symposium wants to tackle a variety of issues, concerning innovative techniques developed to update consolidated museum and archival practices, as conservation and traditional studies of material culture; reflections on how to incorporate technology in the conceptual and material development of displays and exhibitions; actions aimed at presenting fashion heritage to a wider - and often unspecialised - audience in appealing ways, exploiting the potential of social media and experimental platforms.

The opening keynote speaker of the symposium will be Timothy Long, curator of Fashion & Decorative Arts at the Museum of London, who will describe how fashion heritage and technology intertwine in his own practice, crossing the realms of preservation, display and communication, and introducing the main areas explored by the conference.

The closing keynote speech will be given by Professor José Teunissen, Dean of the School of Design and Technology at London College of Fashion, whose practice as curator and educator bridges the gap between diverse territories, constantly challenging the boundaries of the relation between fashion and technology.

Speakers will also include Sarah Scaturro, Head Conservator at The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York, Karen Van Godtsenhoven, Curator of Fashion at MoMu ModeMuseum in Antwerp and Kate Bethune, Director’s Researcher at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Here is the complete programme (you can also download a printable version here together with the full list of abstracts and bios of our speakers here):

MONDAY, 22 May

13.30-14.00 Registration

14.00-14.20 Welcome and introduction
Maria Luisa Frisa (IUAV)
Marco Rendina (Europeana Fashion)

14.20-15.00 Opening Keynote Speech: Trending • #fashionheritage
Timothy Long (Museum of London)

Section 1: PRESERVING

15.00-15.20 Franz von Lipperheide’s fashion paintings in digital dimensions: a collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment
Sabine de Gunther (Humboldt University)

15.20-15.40 New solutions for old problems: fashion terminology in the 21st century
Ykje Wildenborg (Modemuze/Europeana Fashion)

15.40-16.10 COFFEE BREAK

16.10-16.30 Preserving identity in the fashion archive: notes on the Gianni Versace Historical Archive.
Antonio Masciariello (Gianni Versace Historical Archives)

16.30-17.00 Conservation/Explication: The Costume Institute’s use of digital technologies for the preservation and interpretation of its Charles James collection
Sarah Scaturro (The Costume Institute - The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

17.00-17.30 ROUNDTABLE
Chair: Marco Pecorari (The New School Parsons Paris)

Presentation of the Europeana Fashion Collection website
Cocktail

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TUESDAY, 23 May

9.00-9.30 Registration

9.30-9.40 Introduction
Marta Franceschini (Europeana Fashion)

Section 2: EXHIBITING

09.40-10.00 MoMu presents: Margiela, The Hermès Years. An archivist’s labour of love
Karen Von Godsenhoven (MoMu Antwerp)

10.00-10.20 Digital interventions into Fashion at the V&A
Kate Bethune (Victoria & Albert Museum)

Section 3: COMMUNICATING

10.20-10.40 Transforming your archive into a meaningful interactive experience
Kris Meeusen (Lab101)

10.40-11.10 COFFEE BREAK

11.10-11.30 Digital Costume Display. Interactive presentation and documentation on clothes and their stories
Katia Johansen (Clothes Tell Stories)

11.30-11.50 Heritage and Storytelling: how to narrate heritage through the digital. The case of Pucci Elements
Marco Rubichi (Promemoria)

11.50-12.00 The User as Muse: Integrating Museum Practice and Online Fashion Platform Modemuze.nl
Lisa Whittle (Modemuze)

12.00-12.20 ROUNDTABLE
Chair: Gabriele Monti (IUAV)

12.20 - 13.00 Closing Keynote Speech: ERASMUS+ ART-CHERIE
José Teunissen (London College of Fashion)

Closing of the symposium
Gabriele Monti (IUAV)
Marco Rufino (Europeana Fashion)

Image: Excess. Fashion and the Underground in the 80s, exhibition held at Stazione Leopolda, Florence, 8th January - 8th February 2004. Photo by Carlo Fei, courtesy Pitti Immagine, All Rights Reserved