Hedi Slimane / Intermission 1

“HEDI SLIMANE'S INTERMISSION. HEDI SLIMANE IS NOT AN ARTIST. IT IS NOT A FASHION EVENT. INTERMISSION IS THE SPACE BETWEEN THESE TWO SENTENCES, BETWEEN ART AND FASHION, BETWEEN TWO CONFLICTING STATES OF MIND, INTERMISSION IS THE "THIRD STATE OF MIND" OF HEDI SLIMANE. IN ITSELF, THE WORD "INTERMISSION" COULD SUGGEST A MINOR STATE OF MIND, A SITUATION WHERE NOTHING IS HAPPENING, WHERE WE ARE WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO BEGIN AGAIN, YET THE SCALE OF HEDI SLIMANE'S INTERMISSION IS ANYTHING BUT A MINOR SITUATION. HIS INTERMISSION IS A VERY LONG DREAM BETWEEN AWAKENINGS. THE RECONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE HALL OF MIRRORS FROM VERSAILLES IS A SORT OF HALLUCINATION, A NIGHTMARE FROM ALAIN RESNAIS'S "L'ANNEE DERNIERE A MARIENBAD", WHILE THE BOOK IS THAT MOMENT OF AWARENESS WHEN, UPON WAKING, WE REALIZE THAT "IT WAS JUST A DREAM", THE SURROUNDING SPACE STILL BLURRED YET VERY REAL. THERE ARE MANY MOMENTS IN LIFE WHEN REALITY APPEARS NOT AS A WORK OF ART, NOT AS AN IMAGE BUT RATHER AS A STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS ENDOWED WITH SPACE: AN INTERMISSION BETWEEN THE WORLD OF THINGS, BETWEEN DESIRES, BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE. IMAGES DO NOT REALLY EVER BELONG TO US EVEN WHEN WE PRODUCE THEM OURSELVES. SLIMANE'S PROJECT REFLECTS THE DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO TRANSFORM MEMORIES INTO THINGS, INTO SPACE, TO BE OWNED, LOVED AND TOUCHED. INTERMISSION IS THE IMPOSSIBLE TASK TO TRANSFORM FLASHES INTO CHANDELIERS, SLOWING TIME TO THE LIFE OF A CANDLE. INTERMISSION, THE BOOK AND THE ARCHITECTURE, IS A KIND MIMETIC ILLUSION RELATED TO FRENCH LITERATURE OR THEATRE WHEREIN THE AUTHOR REPRODUCES A SET OF EMOTIONAL PATTERNS THAT SEEM TO BE CONCEIVED BY PURE RATIONALITY AND YET ARE MOSTLY THE PRODUCT OF THE UNCONSCIOUS. "FRENCHNESS" IS THE RATIONAL THAT GUIDES SLIMANE'S PROJECT WHILE THE RESULT IS THE UNCONSCIOUS, THE MONGREL SPIRIT OF HIS ORIGIN, THE HYBRID NATURE OF HIS VISION OR, TO QUOTE THE DARKNESS OF A MUCH MORE RECENT PRESENT, HIS "POLLUTED BLOOD" THAT PUSHES HIM OUTSIDE REALITY, FAR FROM THE PURITY OF IDENTITY, INTO THE FREEDOM OF THAT CREATIVE INTERMISSION THAT IS, FOR MOST OF US, LIFE ITSELF." © Francesco Bonami / Pitti Immagine 2002