Lauren recently traveled to Moscow, Russia to participate in the international project, Innovative Costume Design of the 21st Century: The Next Generation, exhibited at the A.A. Bakruhshin State Theatre Museum through August 31st, 2019
Featuring 250 artists from 45 nations, this exhibition highlights the work of designers who began their career in the 21st century in the field of modern costume design and making. The exhibit showcases revolutionary works that utilize non-traditional materials, emergent applications of technology and modes of expression across theatre, ballet, opera, cinema, performing arts, fashion and un-produced projects.
Lauren’s costume renderings Greed and Beatrice were selected for the project. The conceptual dance piece based on Dante Alighieri’s Inferno was conceived in dialogue with University of Kansas City-Missouri’s Dance Department Chair, Paula Weber. The adaptation encompasses every ring of hell and features Dante as the lead. The story begins with a solo dance with Dante’s lover, Beatrice, who paints the first stroke of a dark narrative. Where Beatrice’s journey ends, Dante’s begins and a world of treachery, desire and dazzling surrealism unfolds.
The costumes in each ring of hell serve as a physical manifestation of a spiritual punishment, producing a hellish interpretation of the human form. The figures in the ring of greed are laden with the object of their earthly desire - jewels - at once beautiful and disfiguring. The object of Beatrice’s vanity - her hair - serves as both a brush and a noose.
The duality all objects possess both both beauty and violence are explored in the costumes of each ring of hell, employing silicone-painted organza and blending traditional dye and embroidery techniques with wearable technology and projections.
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