* uN NOUvEAU iDEAL by fILEP mOTWARY

Dear iDEALS, sometime ago my friend Diane Pernet asked me whether I could search for some information on Mr Vassilis Zidianakis, Greece's most important link with foreign fashion. The result was meeting him and doing an interview that I am really proud of, on behalf of Diane's blog . The interview is posted on both blogs today. Please click here for some further information from a previews "announcement post" that I did.Filep Motwary: In a previews post I have already introduced you to Diane’s shaded viewers and to mine, iDEALS. Is there something you feel that I have forgotten to mention concerning goals of your career?
Vassilis Zidianakis: Well, we never did talk about my goals to be honest. We did talk about my past and future projects, though. I would like to say, however, that I am the artisti director of Atopos non-profit company, which I fοunded in 2003 along with Mr Stamos Fafalios, Ms Marianna Kavalieratou, Mr Dimitri Papanikolaou and Mr Giorgos Georgacopoulos. Five different people, coming from totally diverse backgrounds such as art and science. Atopos in ancient Greek translates to strange, eccentric, unfamiliar, unclassable. Atopos is an experimental forum for visual culture and also the means for realizing our projects.Filep Motwary :I remember, the night before we first met, how anxious and uncomfortable I was feeling after reading your C.V. Do you feel superior compared to other people? Are there times you would just “dismiss” a person just because you have a higher level of knowledge?
Vassilis Zidianakis I have worked on various projects in the past, thing that makes my CV a bit ‘heavy’- but I haven’t researched in depth like a scientist. I am more of the man of our time who loves to scan all sources of information and images and process it my own way.  I wouldn’t call myself an expert in any way. I am just very passionate about Art, Fashion and Life itself. And one last thing, knowledge, when one truly possesses it he/she should not use it as a gun to shot others. True knowledge is directly connected to self-knowledge/auto-gnosis and this is very difficult, almost utopic for the modern way of living.
FilepMotwary:What kind of echoes did the “PTYCHOSEIS” 2004 exhibition had”? I am asking this question because you have already told me a small part of it and I feel it is more than interesting to show what a person like you expects after such a great project.  I can assure you that the catalogue of Ptychoseis has it’s own place on the shelves of the most valid fashion houses (Chloe Included).
Vassilis Zidianakis:The Ptychoseis exhibition (http://ptychoseis.snp.gr ) was a huge event that was luckily organized by an interesting group of people, under the personal superintendence of costume curator Ms Ioanna Papantoniou. Our ideas, personal taste, knowledge, wishes and beliefs juxtaposed creatively many times during the 4 years it took us to get the exhibition together. The outcome of those Mediterranean juxtapositions was success itself, which is a beautiful thing. 40.000 people from all over the world visited the exhibition which was named by the Greek media “exhibition of the Olympic year 2004”. I should say, however, that the space the exhibition took place, played a determinative role in the exhibition’s success. I’m talking about the beautiful New Building of the Benaki Museum, designed by architects Maria Kokkinou and Andreas Kourkoulas, at 136 Piraios str.
I was the artistic director of Ptychoseis and co-curator with Ms Papantoniou next to whom I studied for years.  I would suggest that you go and find her and introduce her to your readers.  It will be a wonderful experience for you. It is her idea to establish an International Costume Research Institute in Greece; she’s actually working towards that direction at the moment. The echoes of Ptychoseis could help accomplish that goal.
Now about me and Atopos…I have only recently started to realize the significance of this exhibition and at the same time the significance of my contribution, that comes down to the passion that led me to include contemporary.
fashion and mix it with other historical costume periods in such a project, that could have been elaborated in more classical ways. There have been novelties and conflicts with the traditional ways of working such projects and these are actually the points my inspiration derives from and make me dream and plan new things. I could see myself working again with pleasure on the concept of Ptychoseis, if some International Personality or Museum proposed. That is an issue that bothers my mind in various ways. I can’t be sure all the above answers your question, though!
FilepMotwary:How difficult is for yourself and all the team of ATOPOS to gather the information and material needed for an exhibition?
Vassilis Zidianakis:That is not difficult at all especially with the help of tools like the Internet, publications, exhibitions, shows etc. The difficult thing is that there is never enough time for research. It takes time to allow the information to mature in your head so that you can use it creatively and not massively. The hardest thing of all, however, is to mix various information for the creation of an open ‘sound’. You have to be able to put together an exhibition where one won’t listen to different information-sounds but to something else that hasn’t yet been heard and you have to believe in order for it to become real. All this takes time, time is money; what we need is more people who think this way and are willing to risk and invest money in such efforts. Otherwise, nothing can and will be done.
Filep Motwary: Are there any moments you feel like giving up only because of Greece’s stubbornness?
Vassilis Zidianakis: Oh no, not at all. However, the sound you hear when you crash on the Greek Reality is deafening; it totally confuses me and distracts me from my goal. Sometimes colliding with a reality so hostile to creative things as the Greek Reality could work as a motive, a driving power that pushes you forward and helps you move on. 
Even though Greece won’t be found in the International Scenery of Art and Fashion, it has an energy and freshness which are extremely interesting and creative when they meet with International Leaders.
Filep Motwary:How was your experience at FESTIVAL D’HYERES? You were one of the judges, right? What is it that you are looking for when it comes to judge a newcomer’s design talents?
Vassilis Zidianakis: The experience at the Festival was difficult, but also wonderful especially due to the composition of the jury and the chairmanship of Ann Demeulemeester. We get to judge people and situations in our everyday lives since selecting and rejecting is the only way to move on. However to judge a talented designer’s work knowing this judgment will effect the next step of his career is a very difficult thing to do. I tried to understand the work of the new designers in Hyeres, but most of all I tried to see the potential of their work for the future; whether what I saw in their work and their personality had a concept behind it. In the end, I managed to overcome my personal taste, what pleased my eye the most, walk against what I really like aesthetically on the favour of other parameters which are difficult to explain here. It was the first time I was called to do such a thing and I can assure you I was as nervous as the designers sitting on the other side. 
 Filep Motwary:Please share with us some information on the two forthcoming exhibitions that Atopos is presenting in 2007 and 2008.Plese give us some names of people and creators who are participating.
Vassilis Zidianakis: I can start by giving away for the first time the name of the forthcoming exhibition, which is due to take place in 2007 at the New Benaki Museum. The name of the exhibition is: “Hraaatch…Paper Fashion!” Or in Greek: «Χρααατς...Μόδα από Χαρτί». Atopos owns the largest collection of Disposable Paper Dresses from the Sixties (over 200 pcs) most of which will be on display.
I can also give you some names of artists and designers we will work together for this exhibition. Yannis Kyriakides (Amsterdam) will work on the exhibition‘s sound, Jean-Francois Dingjian (Paris) will work on the installation, artists from the Breeder Gallery (Greece) will work with paper dresses of Atopos’ collection in order to make new pieces of art, Christoph Grunenberg (UK)-director Tate Liverpool-is one of the essay contributors for the exhibition catalogue, fashion designer Yiorgos Eleftheriades (Greece) will also work with paper dresses of our collection in order to design something special for his next collection and will be exhibited in the exhibitioin, web-artist Angelo Plessas(Greece), and new designers Johanna Trudzinsky (Antwerp, student from the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Fashion Department), Aurore Thibout and Amandine Labidoir (talents fron the 21^st International festival of Hyeres) will design outfits using paper fabric from Atopos’ collection.  As far as concerns Atopos’ 2008 project I won’t say a word, yet!
Filep Motwary:How was the experience you had , working with such great names like Marcus Tomlinson, Iannis Xenakis, Jackie Nickerson, Robert Wilson….?
Vassilis Zidianakis: The experience of working with such people is just wonderful because you know in advance that you will have to give the best of you, the maximum of your possibilities, thing that forces you to evolve in a magnificent way.
FilepMotwary:What would you like to say to myself and Diane? How do you feel that our blogs contribute to the world?
Vassilis Zidianakis: I believe that the blogs are contemporary tools that bring you closer to more people and people’s work in a lot less time than by other means of communication. I cannot really say what their contribution to the world is. It’s like a diary that is so up to date. I feel that both you and Diane are on a speed race. The speed you update and provide information is what makes your blogs special and at the same time chaotic, so much like our times. Maybe sometime in the future a group of archaeologists, sociologists and anthropologists could find important information on today’s way of living by examining your blogs! Especially on Diane’s blog, I can see discussions and fights over her dress-code and the whole persona she’s built around herself and what all this could have meant! Well done to both of you; keep up the pace.