FEMINA. Life of the clothes of Sveva Zamboni (Bologna, 1925 – 2014)
Fratelli Broche
Exhibition at Adiacenze, Bologna, curated by Silvia Mei
20 March – 3 April 2015
The first impression entering the space of Adiacenze is to come into a vintage shop. It’s not a bad guess, because the artists of Fratelli Broche maintain a shop (Vintage & design Fratelli Broche) , but they are a “performing factory”, too. On show are clothes from the late 19th century up to the 80s of the last century. They are not only telling the life of the imaginary Sveva Zamboni, but also the history of fashion and society. The Fratelli Broche are questioning about how garments contribute to the social status, are consumer goods or have perhaps their own life independent of their owner.
The first room describes the youth of Sveva Zamboni. We see robes and accessories from the late 19th century to the Belle Époque, family heritage. In 1943 the eighteen year old Sveva escapes the misery of the war: in the attic of the house she dreams her afternoons away with her material friends. A video “4 pagine sui Broche” (4 pages about Broche) – colour, 2009, 13’, illustrates with performances four pages of a diary: encounter, fall in love, habit and decadence of feelings.
The second room is dedicated to the time after war (1950s to 1970s). Sveva is part of the jet set in Monte Carlo and New York. Her dresses are designed by Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior etc.
The third room in the basement refers to the 1980s, when Sveva lived an excessive, hedonistic life, with clothes on the floor from Yamamoto. Her retiring to a lonely, abandoned private existence is illustrated by video the “La cena funebre” (The funeral meal) – colour, 2008, 16’. “We didn’t know that our mother had a mother, until we started to life in her house …” is the entrance sentence. The grandsons of Sveva Zamboni are having a meal. The table is well dressed with white blanket and valuable porcelain, but the boys are in sport shorts. The scenery is mostly surrealistic with fishes in the water glasses, living turtles on the plates and a canard stuffed with plastic pigs.