Antithesis | Season Trends
“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Our soul is the only place where opposites do not reject one another, as they are forced to share it. Beyond social rules and moral dogma, each of us has always held light and shade within us, which know how to co-exist. In Greek philosophy, dialectics was the ability to argue through opposing theses, as the only method of reaching the truth. On the other hand, every truth, far from being univocal, often contains two or more sides within it which can be alternately overturned, revealing its fallible ambiguity. This story shows us how any clear distinction between positive and negative, between one feeling and its opposite, is inevitably fictitious and destined to crumble upon the first thorough analysis. Visual contrasts and seemingly different elements learn to balance out, generating stability. Antithetical poles come together in fascinating ambivalences. Purity is tainted by polluting elements, order joins with disorder, transparency with opacity. In a context of total hybridisation, like the present day, it is hard to trust appearances, count on clean classifications, distinguish beauty from ugliness, good from bad. It is more useful to learn to embrace differences, celebrate their compatibility, where every contradiction is a necessary condition for uniqueness, every clash the high road to harmony.
Research: Anna Maroncelli for Autumn/Winter 2025.26 season.
