[a] border of dying - residency
[a] border of dying by VIGIL
Flux Laboratory Athens X IT'S A SHIRT
5 Mpenizelou Palaiologou Str., 10556 Athens (near the Cathedral)
The building located at 5 Mpenizelou Palaiologou Street, which once housed "DR. DELIS SA", a trading and distribution company for specialty chemical and plastic products, today is occupied by the new project space of Flux Laboratory Athens. The interior of the building is reactivated, for the first time after four years, with the artistic project "[a] border of dying", a collaboration of the artistic collective VIGIL with Flux Laboratory Athens and the brand IT'S A SHIRT.
Despina Sanida Crezia and Fotini Stamatelopoulou (VIGIL) started working on site as residents, taking over the old chemical laboratory on the ground floor and other floors to conduct their research and choreographic work. The project title "[a] border of dying" denotes a subtle repartee between 'dying' and 'dyeing', referingboth to the subject and process of the performative piece, as well as to the original identity of the building itself – a symbol of chemical industry - which has now been lost.
Flux Laboratory Athens in an attempt to create a link with the history of the building, its industrial elements, and with the notion of a “family entreprise” - a typical business model of Greek entrepreneurship- invited Christina Christodoulou, founder of IT'S A SHIRT, to create garments that will be used by VIGIL during their textile experimentation. The experience of this synergy is being documented in the form of a short film.
The project by VIGIL
“[a] border of dying” is an interdisciplinary collaborative research project that focuses on visual arts through the spectrum of textile use, movement through improvisational methods and human studies. It approaches the human body as a tool that through the discoloration of textiles, it explores the process of corrosion and change.
Through movement, Despoina Sanida Crezia and Foteini Stamatelopoulou (VIGIL), investigate the notions of skin, time, transformation and corrosion, effort and coexistence. The project reflects on the dipole of natural-industrial methods of production and the participation of the body in it. The process of discoloration of textiles is approached through the terms of territoriality, border, and the fragmented “death”, but also through a process of effort and patience that guides movement."
IT’S A SHIRT – Christina Christodoulou
« I was born and raised in Athens, but particularly grew up in Piraeus close to the port. I studied in the School of Fine Arts and then accomplished a master degree in Textile Design at the Swedish Textile University. My family used to own a small clothing manufacturing space where I had been during my formative years. In 2017 my dad and I started a small line of unisex shirts using greek linen made in Nafpaktos. From 2020 IT’S A SHIRT started having its own small space in the city. There is a lot of research behind, from the chosen fabrics to the collaborations I have with creatives from different fields and countries. Collaborating is one of the core values and this is why the collaboration with FLUX LABORATORY ATHENS is so important since it brings the performative act closer to the garments and the wearable objects/sets-uniforms.
IT’S A SHIRT is not a clothing brand but a lifestyle which concentrates on conscious customers and human beings who want to be totally aware of what they wear. What I do for IT’S A SHIRT is more of a personal life approach than “work”. It’s a poly prismatic project/brand based in Athens. It embraces the values of no seasonal trends, slow and local production, natural dying process, unusual textures, collaborations, humour, simplicity, timelessness, gender neutrality. It aims to attract human beings who are concerned about the existing story behind the garment that dress themselves. Each piece is produced in our family driven-production space in Athens.»