Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
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Hana Zeqa, RKS
Organic: Extimorph, 2019, © Hana Zeqa. Photo © Manifesta 14 Prishtina / Majlinda Hoxha.
Hana Zeqa specialises in the research and design of wearable technology. Her focus lies on the capacity of costumes and clothing to communicate shifting states of mind and affect. Organic: Extimorph evolved out of the designer’s research on the physiological expressions of strong emotions.
Zeqa was specifically interested in negative – and frequently repressed – affects related to traumatic experience, such as stress and anxiety. In the resulting work, she explores how to bring such pervasive, isolating feelings to the surface of the body, to the exterior of the self.
Using motor sensors to hypothetically detect stress stimuli in various parts of the body, her costume centres on the chest: the seat of fear. Visually referencing an expanding and contracting ribcage and a rapidly beating heart, the garment stimulates the expression, sharing and release of emotion. Wearers willingly expose their vulnerability as a condition of catharsis, of healing and humanity.