01 June 2012

From hand-made to cutting-edge in Analogue Digital

First Site Gallery's annual fashion and textiles exhibition featured works exploring the relationship between traditional techniques and emerging technology in fashion and textile design.

Analogue Digital showcased the work of RMIT University students from across a broad range of programs.

Presented by RMIT Link Arts and Culture as part of the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program, the annual exhibition welcomed submissions from all RMIT students.

This year, participants were invited to explore the relationship between analogue and digital technologies.

Fashion designer Maureen Sohn officially opened the exhibition and praised the artists involved.

"It is wonderful to see how the artists have engaged both approaches to create works that bear the touch of the maker as well as the machine," she said.

Exhibition curator Andrei Davidoff expressed his pleasure at having the opportunity to present works of such a high standard to a public audience.

The textiles, clothing, artworks and accessories on display in Analogue Digital were a testimony to the 43 participating students' innovation and creative flair.

Some used cutting edge technology to pay homage to now-obsolete techniques; others combined old and new methods to create objects that spoke simultaneously of yesterday and tomorrow.

In Rosalie Ferretti's sculpture Re Play, laser-cut wood provided a transformable framework for knitted wool, cotton and copper swatches.

Suellen Entwistle created a hand-stitched patchwork of laser-etched denim panels in Boro; and in a modern take on the children's classic Hansel & Gretel, Nina Sepahpour turned paper collage and biro illustrations into a digitally-printed book.

The exhibition was non-selective, allowing all interested students the opportunity to showcase their works in an alternative platform to the catwalk or retail environment.

All exhibitors in Analogue Digital chose to take part as an extracurricular activity, creating works outside of their study commitments.