ROBERT WILSON + GIORGIO ARMANI

This first collaboration between Robert Wilson and Giorgio Armani was the result of a project jointly conceived by Pitti Immagine Uomo in celebration of the publication of their 50th edition, the Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana, and the Comune di Firenze.

Set in an enormous and beautiful ex-railway station recently re-designed by Gae Aulenti, the work was conceived by Wilson as a journey for the audience; during the course of the evening they would pass from room to room, sometimes sitting to watch a scene unfold, other times viewing the actors through windows or archways, or passing through corridors would view the performers at work in various tableaux or posed as statues in niches.

In the course of this journey the audience passed through forests of various sorts of trees, a sandy beach, a labyrinth, an elegant party, a snow-covered field, a corridor lined with living statues – all united by the oniric, rarified vision of Robert Wilson, and by the costumes worn by the performers, all taken from the collections of Giorgio Armani.

The piece was broken into ten stations, among which were three true stages on which were performed four theatrical scenes inspired by the
themes of Leisure (a seashore), Formal (a very elegant party), Everyday (a cross-section of a large office) and Leisure (a winter scene).

These were connected by a series of corridors and connecting spaces, each one with its own atmosphere – a maze of hedges in a formal garden at the end of which the audience finds Sleeping Beauty’, the corridor of living statues, and so on.

A series of video installations supervised  by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti helped to tell the story of the development of Armani’s style, and to demonstrate the parallels with Italian history of the past 25 years.

PRODUCTION DATES
Florence, Italy
Ex-Stazione Leopolda
21 June and 3 – 5 July 1996