SI/LENZIO

Sylvio Giardina Performance Couture FW23/24

Museo Nazionale Romano, Terme di Diocleziano

Original concept by Sylvio Giardina.
Conceived for SI/LENZIO, a site-specific project by fashion designer Sylvio Giardina, curated by Alessio de’ Navasques and presented at the Baths of Diocletian in Rome, the sound installation accompanies the visitor on a journey from the entrance to the space hosting the performance. Developed in dialogue with the architecture and acoustics of the ancient complex, the sound becomes an integral part of the experience, gradually introducing the audience to the project’s suspended and contemplative atmosphere.
Drawing on the myth of Persephone-Kore, the sound narrative evokes themes of myth, ritual, memory, transformation, and the feminine. Fragments of ancient texts and spoken words, performed by Mina Serrano, recall the figure of Persephone as a symbol of cyclical return, regeneration, and the connection between life and the underworld. Moving through the space, the voice creates an encounter between the ancient site and Giardina’s sculptural couture, extending the narrative of the fashion presentation into the surrounding architecture.
The sound installation was curated and coordinated by Tania Alineri. The sound material was recorded and subsequently processed by Filippo Temperini. Together, the spatial arrangement of the sound and the treatment of the recorded material contribute to an immersive environment that invites visitors to slow down, listen, and contemplate, turning the passage towards the performance into an integral part of the artistic experience.

“A zealous experimenter, Sylvio Giardina has often intertwined the story of his contemporary couture with the inspiration of visual arts, crossing the languages of video, installation and performative practices. After the presentation held last January in the halls on the main floor of Palazzo Farnese in Rome, on the occasion of /gal-lerìa/, the presentation of the SS23 collection, the designer has once again chosen the city where he lives and works for a new project. On July 13th, the National Roman Museum, in the Diocletian Baths Complex, presents SI/LENZIO, a site specific intervention conceived by Sylvio Giardina and curated by Alessio de’Navasques, in which the echo of the myth, the dimension of the ritual, of the memory, of an eternal and ineffable feminine in transformation, are the narrative traces for an epiphany that blends fashion and performance.”

Stéphane Verger Direttore del Museo Nazionale Romano

Institution Museo Nazionale Romano

Curator Alessio de Navasques

Performer Mina Serrano

Producer Raffaele Granato

Sound Installation Tania Alineri & Filippo Temperini

Press Office Maria Cristina Bastante

Photography Tania Alineri

Photography Cristina Crippa

Videomaker Piero Perilli

Camera Operator Nicolas Vanegas Sanchez

Make-up Camilla Iacobitti

Thanks to Team Sylvio Giardina, Museo Nazionale Romano, Ministero della Cultura