This September, ink invited pioneering artist Maurizio Altieri to participate, and together with the gallery THE SHOPHOUSE, Maurizio’s M_moriabc project will be held for the last time, and it will also be the largest retrospective exhibition ever held.
“the representation of a failure / to be discussed”
Souvenir
1994 was an extraordinary year for avant-garde fashion: Rick Owens began knocking on doors to promote his designs for his future business empire; Carol Christian Poell, who was still extremely reclusive, released his first small series with the theme of “transparency”; Maurizio Altieri formed the Carpe Diem team and, as a “mentor”, brought out half of the future of the field.
“For me, Carpe Diem is the story of a young man who wants to create his own worldview.” After selling the highly successful Carpe Diem, Altieri spent most of his time and energy subverting his previous design concepts, breaking through the shackles of cultural and aesthetic horizons, and the process of constantly sampling and re-sampling.
“For me, shoes are not just a fetish, they are a medium.” The conceptual system he proposed was M_moriabc (memento mori a b c, souvenir). The ABC series, each with 11 pairs of shoes, was based on three precious shoe lasts that he had spent years hand-carving from wood. The original intention of the project was to interpret design based on traditional craftsmanship. While constantly evolving, it also constantly challenged the shoemaking technology that was considered to have reached its limits at the time.
A
round, wooden shape – a symbol of the past
The A series focuses on traditional values and techniques, respecting craftsmanship and aesthetics that prioritize pragmatism. It draws inspiration from those forgotten times, preserving things that have been passed down for many years while also changing them, making them Altieri’s own tradition. It is the series that is closest to the previous Carpe Diem. For example, the first shoe shape of M_moriabc, “A_I ‘, its pointed toe refers to the previous ’iconic” Carpe Diem style.
The use of Horween Cordovan, the king of leather, and Goodyear welt, Storm welt, Reverse welt and Norwegian welt craftsmanship, makes the A series look more sturdy. The round, three-dimensional toe cap has a beautiful and clean outline, and the bottom is fixed with wooden sticks instead of nails. The entire shoe is hand-dyed and shaped. Some shoe models are even decorated with beautiful pearl buttons.
In the past, Altieri used to display its shoes on a long strip of linen spread on the floor, with the shoes arranged in a way that they looked like footprints. The linen could be folded against the back of the shoe cabinet. The shoe cabinet of the A series is made of wood, representing tradition. As for the graphic part, it should be determined by the three shoe lasts. The toe part of the A series shoe sole is as smooth as a circle, so it is defined as round.
B
Square, iron – representing the present
B series, which is considered the most balanced of the three. Altieri carefully extracts elements from modern footwear and applies them to traditional shoe models. Compared with the A series, the shoe shape is more coherent and experimental, reducing as much as possible the elements that a pair of shoes should have while showing an integrated structure. The Goodyear welt, which hides the stitches, is used more, and the streamlined shape gives a sports car look.
The shoe cabinet used for the B series display is made of iron, representing the present. The toe part of the B series sole is like a “U” shape with a slightly blunt corner, so it is defined as square.
C
Triangle shape, aluminum finish – representing the future
The C series is more like a continuation of the later Avantindietro, borrowing elements from modern shoe shapes such as boxing shoes, running shoes, and hollowed-out slip-ons. Coupled with the sole protection made of coconut fiber and rubber and the traditional craftsmanship of the A series, it has a more futuristic feel and can be matched with a wider range of clothing. Among them, the hidden lacing design of the Sneaker model, which looks like zipper teeth (the laces are worn in the middle seam), is highly recognizable.
The shoe cabinet in which the C series is displayed is made of treated aluminum and represents the future. The toe part of the C series sole is more like a rounded “V” shape, so it is defined as a triangle.
M_moriabc is not time-oriented and does not blend into the fashionable atmosphere. “Shoes either make you love them or hate them. On the one hand, they have the advantages of high-quality materials and high-level craftsmanship, and on the other hand, they have an unconcerned attitude towards destruction (by the person wearing them).” Maurizio hopes that the wearer will participate in the process of inspiring the “aesthetic beauty of the shoe over the years.”
However, M_moriabc essentially “fails”, and the “souvenir” instead becomes the object of “being remembered” in the present.
The “failure” to be discussed
Topology is the study of geometric figures or spaces that retain certain properties after continuous shape changes. It only considers the positional relationship between objects and not their shape or size. Formally speaking, topology mainly studies the property of “topological spaces” remaining unchanged under “continuous transformations”. Simply put, topology is a branch of mathematics that studies “continuity” and “connectivity” (from Baidu Baike).
Based on the study of topology, Maurizio Altieri has developed several collaborative projects based on the matrix of nine points (novepvnti), of which M_moriabc is one: analyzing the formal qualities of the shoes and the quantity of past/present/future shoes, as well as the spatial commonality of these shoes in form, and hypothesizing that they can be classified on a continuum similar to the “Poincaré conjecture”, which has some underlying structure in form.
“Assuming that individuals can appear in various forms and exist independently without being based on people’s observations of internal laws, people can form perceptions of them based on simple intuition alone.” For example, if you tie a knot in a piece of wire and then shape the two ends of the wire without the knot, even if the final shape of the wire is different due to the shaping by different people, there is essentially only one knot. Even if the shapes of shoes created in different eras/with different aesthetics/by different people are different, what are the structural properties that remain the same? Can they be generalized in terms of “one/multiple knots”?
Each step of M_moriabc is carried out under a critical eye, shape, pattern, structure – all of these interact to try to define a system. The project has achieved some results that are discernible to the naked eye: the production of shapes that do not compromise human needs or cultural environments, the superfluous decorations and embellishments that lack uniformity or structure can be linked or removed in the process, and the natural accumulation of experience revealed in the distortion of structure, deviation of shape, and plasticity of leather or other materials is left to the hands of the craftsman.
Back then, Carpe Diem refused advertising, seasonal collections, fashion shows and all the other commercial activities that a fashion company is supposed to engage in. Fashion sounded like Fascist, so he hated the prefix “avant-garde” in his name, didn’t like the idea of showing collections without (real) individuals in a showroom, and considered himself far removed from the attitude of a runway show. sympathy. Such a concept allows people to set aside everything else and appreciate the work itself in its deepest, most beautiful and simplest form.
The beauty of M_moriabc lies in its purity, like the various “most beautiful formulas” in mathematics (such as the topological Euler formula V+F-E=X(P), which is obeyed by all convex polyhedra). With its wood-carved leather and clean, perfect design language, it is not an exaggeration to display it as “crafts”.
M_moriabc
However, he failed to answer the question of “finding a continuum” and had to collapse and ultimately assume responsibility for the legacy of his work. Even so, he was stubborn and chose to use “failure” as a reset and discuss it in the form of an exhibition, attempting a direct exchange of knowledge on a “1:1” scale.
The exhibition also includes some destroyed M_moriabc prototypes. At the beginning of the project, Maurizo used a heavy industrial pump to extrude and shape the five prototypes of “a_b_c” and “I _ /”, just as he had previously disposed of the Carpe Diem shoe model as “trash”, leaving the past behind.
Longer paths, mistakes and difficulties seem to represent the possibility of redefining/reinterpreting rather than obstacles, and can only be tracked, discussed and the possibility of “transcending the status quo” attempted through direct experience. Maurizo continues to exist in a complete system with the interconnectivity and integrity between individuals, and shoes are just one of the objects that maintain this conclusion.
In this exhibition, in addition to a retrospective of more than 40 classic styles, a number of rare shoe models that have never been exposed before have also been specially collected, and a certain number of them are available for purchase.
Vnlibrogrigio、Vnora、0o0o0o、Vnappendice
At the same time, Maurizio will be presenting a new documentary film he has personally produced, as well as a preview of several new projects currently in the pipeline: in addition to Vnapersona, which was previously exhibited together with M_moriabc (the continuity of the “one stroke” still belongs to topology), there is also the Vnappendice waist bag made by reverse moulding, the 0o0o0o three-ring ring sculpture, the Vnasvista sterling silver tortoiseshell sunglasses based on Eskimo tradition, and from flat to book cover Vnlibrobgn (Vnlibro bianco, grigio, nero), Vnora, a footwear project that destroyed the original abc shoe last and remade it, and Vncontatto, the “egg shoe” with an ovoid sole. The work and methodology behind these projects can be seen in the work of M_moriabc.
“My goal is to share information with people I meet while wandering, and the reality of the store-gallery role… It needs to be presented to its audience and given more and more attention to the personalized and customized aspects.” These other ‘results’ derived from the results of ‘failure’ are quietly waiting for the viewer’s ”discussion.”
Ink and color x THE SHOPHOUSE
M_moriabc by Maurizio Altieri Exhibition
Editor: Mascarar
