Acne Studios Presents A Collaboration With Artist And Technoshaman Angelo Plessas

Born from his interview and art portfolio in the relaunch issue of Acne Paper, the limited-edition collection in collaboration with Angelo Plessas features embroidered patches based on the artist’s Noospheric Cape project. Adorned with talismanic symbols, the cape is viewed as a ritualistic tool that addresses aspects of spirituality, cultural heterogeneity, and healing from our hyper-connected world.

“The symbols come from a project where I explored the idea of the talisman in contemporary life. I was using symbols and semiotics that you see in ancient Greece, for example, but also in everyday communication like emojis and emoticons, and even cybernetics. I was interested in this mingling of ancient, contemporary and futuristic so I collected a few symbols and we put them on t-shirts, bomber jackets, and so on. They are talismans and symbols of hospitality, friendship, sisterhood and generosity,” says Angelo Plessas.

The embroidered patches adorn a range of unisex garments – an oversized creme beige t-shirt, an oversized pale blue t-shirt, an oversized navy blue hoodie and a burgundy bomber jacket – and one home decor cushion. Born and based in Athens, Plessas also discusses his work in three short films to accompany the launch of the collection and create several handmade capes to be displayed in select stores around the world. Part wall hanging, orgonite shelter and talismanic altar, the quilted and appliquéd fabrics used are “orgone-friendly”, which means they are sewn using EMF (electromagnetic radiation) protection from household devices such as laptops, smartphones, routers, etc.

The collection of embroidered pieces is available in stores worldwide and online at acnestudios.com.

Angelo Plessas Q&A

• How did the collaboration with Acne Studios come about?
  

Thomas Persson [the editor of Acne Paper] came to my studio and saw the quilts I was preparing for the Gwangju Biennale in Korea. He immediately found them interesting and thought they could somehow be integrated with Acne Studios. It’s a great collaboration because this is a new way of redefining something that is worn. I wear these quilts in performances and they are redefining the way clothing and art work together. It’s a unification of fashion, costume design, art and ideas about spirituality and technology.

• What is the inspiration behind the symbols used in the Acne Studios collaboration?
  

The symbols come from a project where I explored the idea of the talisman in contemporary life. I was using symbols and semiotics that you see in ancient Greece, for example, but also in everyday communication like emojis and emoticons, and even cybernetics. I was interested in this mingling of ancient, contemporary and futuristic so I collected a few symbols and we put them on t-shirts, bomber jackets, and so on. They are talismans and symbols of hospitality, friendship, sisterhood and generosity.

• Can you tell us more about the quilts?
  

It’s a cape, but if you lay it down or put it on a wall instead of wearing it, the cape looks like a mask, a face, an emoji. These are the symbols we used in the collaboration. When I make the capes, I use fabrics that are “orgone-friendly” –this polyester has properties that can ward off electromagnetic radiation. So in a way, by wearing these fabrics, they somehow protect us from technology.

• Is it fair to say your work draws equally upon what a lot of people think are complete opposites – spirituality and technology?
  

Exactly. If I can describe my work in one line, it’s that I find ways to bridge spirituality and technology so we can understand something new. This is something that’s actually happening now because we live in front of screens, we have our smartphones, but at the same time – even more so after the pandemic – we’re trying to find ways to heal our bodies and minds. We have a new awareness about how to live in technology. We live in small places, a bit segregated, with all this kind of stuff. And so the symbols I use, they’re talismans. Each one corresponds to different things that can keep us safe, for any kind of social activity we do.

• But you’re not anti-technology at all.
  

No, no, no, exactly, no. There’s a way to understand that technology has a mystical side, a good side, too. But we should also understand that we need to find ways to be a bit away from technology. One of the reasons I started these quilts was to keep me away from working in front of the screen all the time. I was kind of burning out. So doing something really physical with my hands was also a way healing and I could go back to the screen, more energised and more inspired.

• You often speak of technoshamanism. Can you explain what that means?
  

When I was in Korea, I saw in Korean culture and other Asian countries the coexistence of spirituality and technology. People are very much interconnected with technology there, but at the same time, they go to temples and the just disappear for three days. They can switch off their phones, but it is a very technologically driven society with everything is done through the internet. I found this interesting. In 50 years, technology and shamanism were somehow developing together. Somehow shamanism is a technology of the soul. And in contemporary life, like in places such as Korea, there’s a new wave of art, a new wave of lifestyle, that’s technoshamanism. There are these young people driven to do magical things with technology in a way a shaman does something with their tools. I wrote this manifesto that actually explains all these ideas and created a performance reading the manifesto through my phone wearing this quilt that is a costume, one similar to the cape that I'm doing with Acne Studios.

• What are your thoughts on the relationship between art and fashion?
  

We live in time where visual arts is the basis for many things. I mean, a visual artist can do anything – everything is intermingling now, all the disciplines. I'm interested in exploring things outside of the art and for me, fashion was always something close. I find it really interesting the way sometimes the things you wear can change your consciousness and can change the way you actually feel. It’s some sort of a healing this way. I found through art, fashion is a medium that can actually say things to an even broader audience that maybe doesn’t have much of intellectual relationship with art. Fashion is a way to send messages to a broader public.

But not all fashion brands can relate to art. With Acne Studios, I had a special relation even before this collaboration. I found that when I was wearing some something from Acne, I felt a different quality, like something else is there. There’s a feeling of protection and tenderness. There’s a feeling of changing your attitude, which is similar to art in that an artwork can change attitudes.

• What are your thoughts on the relationship between art and the internet?
  

One part of my work is about these internet pieces, which I started in the late 90s, when the internet was not the place it is today, not so broad. There was no social media. But I still find the internet interesting. It’s a place, it’s a space, it’s a concept. It’s a project that always evolves. And it always changes and redefines the way people interact and behave. So I think art and the internet will continue to have a great coexistence.

• What are you working on right now? And what else is capturing your attention?
  

I’m working on different rituals, like one with Acne Studios in Los Angeles for the launch of the collaboration. I’m also working on different shows around the world, doing more quilts, and organising different gatherings of the Noospheric Society. There’s also a book I’m reading about science and spirituality by the British author Steve Taylor.

• Do you have any particular hopes for the collaboration with Acne Studios?
  

I hope people might see how everything is interrelated – how the way we are, the way we feel, and the way we wear something. The cape in also something that people can wear to meditate. I think we would be much greater if people meditated more. And so I want to shed the light on this technospiritual side of our life, so it can be more interesting