Puvun muisti, pukusuunnittelijan muisti
Abstract
From the perspective of a practitioner-researcher, I investigate in this article insights into costume design with the terms ‘memory’ and ‘remembering’ as my analytical lenses. First, I map the use of these terms in previous costume research. Then, I group the areas of focus and label them history-related memory of costume, use and user-related memory of costume, and sense and emotion-related memory of costume. I also identify and describe a fourth memory-type, that of conceptual memory of costume. Second, against this theoretical backdrop with a self-reflective approach, I examine my artistic practice as a costume designer within the Helsinki-based, international performance art group Oblivia, specifically in the context of the performance Nature Theatre of Oblivia (2017). Here, I highlight the centrality of costume in the promotion of performance; as a multifaceted tool to ‘remember,’ or grasp past performance; and as an object that, in some cases, ‘returns’ to its designer. Furthermore, I illustrate how memory may assist the designer in both shaping and materializing the concept of costume. With this analysis, I propose a more profound understanding of costume practice: its temporality and influence for performance. Thereby, through the lens of ‘memory,’ this article contributes to the documentation of the history of freestanding performing arts groups in Finland in general, and to the development of costume research within this country in particular.
