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An impossible wardrobe for the invisible - 2011

An impossible wardrobe for the invisible

A research project based on an experimental approach in which the outcomes of all the actions are not foreseen (as in John Cage's notion of the term). Each piece is unique and can’t be repeated. Lara Torres presents the recordings/documentation of seven performances in a video installation. These films are based on the creation of temporary clothes that are produced with the aim of being destroyed. They refer to the loss of the object and the documentation of this loss. The action of effacing the clothes leaves a trace (the seams) translating a strong relation with memory and forgetfulness.

 Woman in the water Duration: 4’25”loop Concept and art-direction:Lara Torres | Direction: Lara Torres | Co-direction: Pedro Fortes Camera: Pedro fortes | Performer: Joana Areal | Assistants: Yann Gibert and Frederica Santos

Two man hug Duration: 5’30”loop Concept and art-direction:Lara Torres | Direction: Lara Torres | Co-direction: Pedro Fortes Camera: Pedro fortes | Performer: Miguel Bonneville & Diogo Bento | Assistants: João Barata and Yann Gibert

Man sinking to the floor Duration 3’17” loop Concept and art-direction: Lara Torres | Direction: Lara Torres | Co-direction: Pedro Fortes Camera: Pedro fortes | Performer: Yann Gibert | Assistant: João Barata

The older man sitting Duration: 5’44” loop Concept and art-direction: Lara Torres | Direction: Lara Torres | Co-direction: Pedro Fortes Camera: Pedro fortes | Performer: Eduardo Petersen | Assistant: Yann Gibert

Women crossing the water Duration 1’33” loop Concept and art-direction: Lara Torres | Direction: Lara Torres | Co-direction: Pedro Fortes Camera: Pedro fortes | Performers: Liz vahia, Andrea Brandão, Sofia pimentão, Teresa Nobre Assistants: Yann Gibert and Mauro Cordeiro.

Young couple Duration 4’49” loop Concept and art-direction:Lara Torres | Direction: Lara Torres | Co-direction: Pedro Fortes Camera: Pedro fortes | Performers: Sofia Dias & Vitor Roriz | Assistant: Yann Gibert

Self Portrait Duration: 3’04”loop Concept and art-direction:Lara Torres | Direction: Lara Torres | Co-direction: Pedro Fortes Camera: Pedro fortes | Performer: Lara Torres | Assistance: Yann Gibert | A special thanks to Carlos Ribeiro.

The process of disappearance is a design process in itself, leaving sometimes only a drawing on the performer’s bodies, the ‘skeleton’ of a particular garment. The lines of the seams against the performer’s body induce a sense of the private, a feeling of loss that is very intimate. Water is also a ‘designer’ here; water will change shapes and produce the final result. Water has a central place in the practices and beliefs of many religions, water does not only purify objects for ritual use but can make a person clean, externally or spiritually. In each of the situations filmed there is a performer, who becomes an archetypal character that the audience can relate to when watching each film. The clothes worn make him/her an identifiable character. When he/she wears his/hers outfits, he turns into the businessman or any other familiar character that has crossed our daily path, so he becomes a mirror image: a recognisable self projected in a film, bringing to the wearer the consciousness of his own mortality by using design processes that translate the mechanisms of memory into film as a way of communicating these concerns. The interpreters contributed to the collaborative nature of the project, creating the need for establishing a connection between the people and sequences filmed. The result of the films would depend on the collaboration of Pedro Fortes who was filming, and co-editing with me and the team of performers giving their contribution to each film, in the end this relates to a collaborative authorship between me, the co-direction of Pedro and the intervention of water that was decisive for all end results. As in all film practice, it is collaborative by its nature. The films are based on the creation of temporary clothes that are produced with the aim of being destroyed; leaving only the ‘memory’ of the pieces in film documentation relates to the ephemeral nature of fashion and is also a metaphor for the quickness of the fashion processes today.

An impossible wardrobe for the invisible (2011) Exhibition view at MUDE Museu do Design e da Moda of Lisbon by invitation of the Lisbon Fashion week [Lisbon, March 2011]

An impossible wardrobe for the invisible (2011) Exhibition view at MUDE Museu do Design e da Moda of Lisbon by invitation of the Lisbon Fashion week [Lisbon, March 2011]

Lara Torres and Pedro Fortes talk about the project An impossible wardrobe for the invisible at WHO gallery in Lisbon Director and Editor Yann Gibert | A special thanks to Aviva Obst.