'Artefacts of mass production: Swatch of Luxury'

Background: In the context of a luxury fashion industry in upheaval to the extent that it is difficult to differentiate that traditional boundaries of ‘luxury’ and ‘mass production’ (Cantista & Sádaba, 2019). Emerging practice-based approaches are questioning these commercial systems and traditions of this industry under the banner of ‘critical fashion practice’. Key practitioners and projects in this area include: JOIN Collective, Warehouse, Elisa van Joolen, Tenant of Culture and Shanzhai Lyric.Contribution: 'Artefacts of mass production: Swatch of Luxury' speculated on the material constructions of luxury through a participatory project model to explore the question, ‘how do we now define luxury and/or mass production?’. A collaboration between RMIT University and the Swedish School of Textiles, University of Boras, led by Ricarda Bigolin, Chantal Kirby, Professor Clemens Thornquist and Anna Lidstrom, the project asked contributors to make a ‘swatch of luxury’ from a mass-produced item and in doing so encouraged 40 participants to reconsider traditional material definitions on luxury and mass-produced fashion. The final installation was curated by Bigolin and Kirby as chief investigators on the project. Significance: The State of Fashion is a an ongoing initiative organised by Foundation Sonsbeek, based on the Arnhem Fashion Biennale, an initiative of ArtEZ Fashion and the City of Arnhem. The project was commissioned through a competitive peer-review process and was installed at Musis, Arnhem as part of the colloquium ‘Fashion Colloquium: Searching for the New Luxury’. As part of the event, Bigolin & Kirby were also invited by Professor José Teunissen to participate in the conference program (other speakers included Pascale Gatzen, Luca Marchetti, Otto von Busch) presenting on ‘Artefacts of Mass Production’. The project also led to the invitation for Bigolin and Kirby to participate in the panel discussion ‘Is jewellery a luxury?’ at RMIT Design Hub in 2019.研究背景：当前奢侈品时尚行业正处于剧烈变革之中，已然难以区分"奢侈品"与"大规模生产"的传统边界（Cantista & Sádaba, 2019）。以"批判性时尚实践"（critical fashion practice）为旗号兴起的基于实践的新兴研究路径，正对该行业的商业体系与传统范式提出质疑。该领域的核心实践者与代表性项目包括：JOIN Collective、Warehouse、Elisa van Joolen、Tenant of Culture以及Shanzhai Lyric。 研究贡献："大规模生产的人工制品：奢侈品样本"（Artefacts of mass production: Swatch of Luxury）通过参与式项目模式，对奢侈品的物质建构展开思辨，以探究"我们当下应如何定义奢侈品与/或大规模生产？"这一核心问题。该项目由RMIT大学（Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University）与博拉斯大学瑞典纺织学院（Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås）合作开展，由Ricarda Bigolin、Chantal Kirby、Clemens Thornquist教授以及Anna Lidstrom牵头，邀请参与者从大规模生产的单品中制作一块"奢侈品样本"，借此促使40名参与者重新审视关于奢侈品与大规模生产时尚的传统物质定义。本项目的最终展览由作为首席研究员的Bigolin与Kirby策划。 研究意义："时尚现状"（The State of Fashion）是由Sonsbeek基金会（Foundation Sonsbeek）发起的长期项目，其依托阿纳姆时尚双年展（Arnhem Fashion Biennale）——该双年展是ArtEZ时尚学院（ArtEZ Fashion）与阿纳姆市联合发起的项目。该项目通过竞争性同行评审流程获得立项，并作为"时尚学术论坛：探寻新奢侈品"（Fashion Colloquium: Searching for the New Luxury）的环节之一，在阿纳姆的Musis场馆展出。作为本次活动的一部分，José Teunissen教授邀请Bigolin与Kirby参与论坛议程（其他发言嘉宾包括Pascale Gatzen、Luca Marchetti、Otto von Busch），并以"大规模生产的人工制品"为题进行分享。该项目还促成Bigolin与Kirby受邀参与2019年在RMIT设计中心（RMIT Design Hub）举办的主题为"珠宝是否属于奢侈品？"的小组讨论。