Panel Discussion: Transgression in Art and Fashion

Participants: Beca Lipscombe (Atelier EB), Dr Catherine Rossi (Canterbury School of Architecture and Design) + Rottingdean Bazaar (James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks). Moderated by Sarah McCrory, (Director Goldsmiths CCA)

This panel discussion takes as its departure point Cinzia Ruggeri’s legacy as a transgressor, freely roaming across disciplines. As her practice developed, Ruggeri took the fashion industry to task for the speed of its production and dearth of ideas that truly challenged repetitiveness and conformity. Crossing the boundaries of fashion, music, installation, publishing, product design and architecture, Cinzia brought an irreverence and humor that never lacked gravitas, a DIY spirit that was matched with studied craft and material invention, and a deep awareness that the clothes we wear perform our identity. The panel collectively explore what legacy and example Cinzia leaves, and how the contemporary moment, in art and fashion, corresponds.

“Fashion today is like a devilish snake devouring itself at dizzying speed: the more it devours, the more it grows, and the more it grows, the more rarefied it becomes, swelling with emptiness. It is a world dominated by the boredom of repetitiveness and conformity, the fear of making mistakes, the impoverishment of creative abilities, the obliteration of the subject of representation. A world that bases its existence on a speed of change so high that it leads to its opposite, to immobility, which strips away meaning, and impoverishes the landscape instead of enriching it.” - Cinzia Ruggeri

BIOGRAPHIES

Beca Lipscombe (b. 1973, Edinburgh, lives and works in Edinburgh) is a fashion and textile designer, printmaker, and one half of Atelier E.B. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Lipscombe’s professional practice is multi-layered and draws upon a vernacular aesthetic. This sensibility was evident in both her eponymous label (2000-2007) and her work as a freelance designer for various companies including Liberty, Chloe, Stella McCartney and Ann-Sofie Back. Until 2011 she taught on the MA Fashion+Textiles at The Glasgow School of Art stepping down from this post to concentrate on her own work and the work of her company Atelier E.B which she runs in partnership with artist Lucy McKenzie (b. 1977, Glasgow, lives and works in Brussels). Lipscombe’s varied practice has included the production of fashion, commissioned display and interiors for public and private spaces, textiles, furniture and publishing.

Dr Catharine Rossi is Professor of Architecture at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury. Her research areas include contemporary design, post-WWII Italian design and architecture, craft, club culture, and feminism. Publications include Designing Craft in Italy: from Postwar to Postmodernism (MUP, 2015), Post-Craft (Sternberg, 2022) and The Italian Avant-Garde (Sternberg, 2013), both edited with Professor Alex Coles, and contributions to publications including Architectural Review, Disegno, the Financial Times and The Journal of Modern Craft. Exhibitions include the co-curated touring show Night Fever: Designing Club Culture 1960 to Today (Vitra Design Museum, 2018 - 2022) and most recently the co-curated show At Home (Stanley Picker Gallery, 2022 - 2023).

Rottingdean Bazaar are multidisciplinary artists James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks. Working together as a duo since meeting at St Martins in 2015 their work straddles creative direction, fashion design, fashion styling, video direction and fine art practice. Rottingdean Bazaar live and work in Rottingdean, East Sussex, UK.

Host or Publisher Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art