Optical Laces film

Background: The film installation was generated from a recent research project Perceiving Dress: Optical Laces which investigated the relationship between sensory and visual perception of a dress in movement. The dress is designed as a tool to extend the experience, perception and physical response of a dancer and the dress was previously been exhibited as part of an installation in relationship to the garment 'Out of Our Heads' 2014 London. In Florence the film of this garment was exhibited large scale to explore the potential of viewers to become immersed through the performance of the garment in film alone. Contribution: The film seeks to immerse the viewer through the mediated context of film by tapping into experiential and embodied knowledge. I suggest that empathy and memory of materiality can re awaken lived tactile and kinesthetic experience through the active process of not only watching dress in film in a passive manner but by literally feeling and touching through vision. In my previous work I have focused on the way the film was produced from the dancers experience of the dress however this exhibition enables an analysis of the viewers responses to the garment in film. The research argues that clothing in performance possesses the ability to transcend time and space through embodied memory and experience even when viewed through the mediated context of film. Research Significance: The Installations were curated across Florence alongside the IFFTI conference and were selected through competitive peer review by an international panel of reviewers. As a result of the exhibit the researchers work was published in article by Chiara, Frederico, Fashion Humanism, Vogue Italia, April 2015. N.776. p.110 and in "Firenze : Made in Tuscany" Spring 2015 issue. N.34 pp. 106-109 "Momenting the memento: Moda, Arte e Innovazione a Firenze by Marta Innocenti Ciulli. The researcher was also interviewed by Dobrila Denegri published in POLIMODAMAG.