Les Funerailles de la Baleine

An exclusive evening performance and roundtable discussion in celebration of London College of Fashion’s partnership with The Royal Academy of Arts, Aware: Art Fashion Identity exhibition.

The Skin Tellers serves as the latest incarnation of Italian artist Claudia Losi’s Balena Project, which she began in 2004 with the creation of a 1:1 scale model of a fin whale, made from men’s suiting fabric. With the participation of fashion designer Antonio Marras the whale has now been transformed into a number of suit jackets, embroidered with the stories the whale collected along its journey and worn during this exclusively commissioned performance. The jackets will be on display as part of the GSK Contemporary exhibition at the Royal Academy.

The performance will be followed by a roundtable discussion, chaired by Christopher Breward, which will build upon ideas of memory, mystery, community, and narrative as evoked in the performance, and they will be discussed within the context of the speaker’s own creative and critical practices. The tradition of tailoring will be explored in depth, framed in the context of its cultural, creative and institutional production, and within the stories that are told.

Admission: FREE
RSVP: events@fashion.arts.ac.uk
Venue: Saint Mary’s Church, London, W1H 1PQ
Nearest tube: Edgeware Road / Marylebone

18:00 – 18:30
Registration & Mulled Wine reception
18:30 – 18:45
The Skin Tellers
A performance by Claudia Losi, in collaboration with Antonio Marras
19:00 – 20:00
Roundtable discussion Chaired by Christopher Breward with Jonathan Watkins, Mark Henderson, Philip Hoare, Tom Baker, Carol Alayne and Shaun Cole

Links:

• GSK Contemporary Exhibition
• http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/aware