CSN Lab, remaining committed to promoting intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue, actively collaborates with a wide range of regional and international research and cultural institutions, universities, as well as independent initiatives and individual practitioners. Intersecting philosophy, memory studies and visual arts, this summer CSN Lab hosted cultural theorist Marie-Aude Baronian and supported her research activities in Yerevan.
Marie-Aude Baronian is an Associate Professor in Visual Culture at the University of Amsterdam. Her research spans across fashion and textiles, memory and visual arts, ethics and aesthetics, cinema and philosophy. As part of her research activities in Armenia, and in collaboration with TUMO Studios, CSN Lab also organized a public lecture by Baronian, which focused on re-reading fashion and textile practices as cultural archives and as mediums for expressing memory and emotion.
The lecture began with a simple yet layered question posed by Baronian: “What is fashion?” Removing it from the framework of industry and commodification, she brought into the discussion the symbolic layers intertwined with fashion and the body, along with the cultural and social issues they raise.
By weaving parallels between fashion and cinema — two seemingly disconnected forms — Baronian emphasized the crucial role of movement and the body in the articulation and exchange of meaning and signs. She defined fashion and the textile-object as materiality through which we express ways of intertwining ourselves with others and with the world. The textile-object animates the body through its physical and reflective gestures; it is simultaneously material and text, an environment we wear and touch, but also a sign we contemplate and reflect upon. It documents “space and time,” bears the traces of the trajectories, and becomes an object of memory.
The lecture was followed by a Q&A session and an extended discussion, which opened up a space for designers, artists, cultural workers, and interested individuals to question and analyze the narratives shaped and circulated in both Armenian and diasporic contexts. The audience shared reflections and personal experiences, engaging with the themes raised during the talk, while also envisioning a more inclusive, environmentally responsible, and sustainable future for the field of fashion and textiles. One of the central topics discussed was the influence of Armenian culture and art on textile and fashion practices; particularly the legacy of Sergei Parajanov, the gaze directed at his work, and its reproduction and/or reinterpretation.
The thematic diversity of the discussion once again highlighted how fashion is inextricably linked to cultural memory, political context, the politics of the body and memory, social issues, and broader concerns.
Through this and other initiatives, CSN Lab continues to bridge cultural narratives by bringing together voices from different disciplines and sectors and contributing to the formation of truly multilayered professional and public discourse.
The receptiON platform is CSN Lab’s ongoing initiative aimed at promoting contemporary cultural narratives through public events. It brings together cultural practitioners, artists, and researchers from Armenia and around the world to share their knowledge and experience through lectures, workshops, film screenings, and many other formats.