Body: Material, Performative, Absent | Cohen Commons

Body: Material, Performative, Absent

Curated by Soheila Esfahani and Faseeh Saleem

Exhibition: June 27– July 11, 2023
Reception: Thursday, June 27 from 5-7PM
Cohen Commons

In continuation of DRAFTS 5: Diasporic Bodies research and exhibition, Body: Material, Performative, Absent focuses on Faseeh Saleem’s design research on alternative conceptions of the body from a postcolonial lens. Curated by Soheila Esfahani, in this exhibition Saleem explores conceptions of the body and challenges conventional design methods and design thinking in fashion design processes in order to open up for alternative bodies as a methodological foundation. This exhibition suggests a set of concepts that have emerged from workshops and experiments that questioned preconceived notions of the body and facilitated a process of re-learning fashion-design processes. The explorations resulted in tools and methods that augment knowledge of and provide alternatives to standard methods used in fashion-design processes. They are alternative ways of working, constituting knowledge of recursive design methods and facilitating the enhancement of artistic approaches to art and design practices. The body alternatives that emerged from the exploratory experiments provide artistic openness in design thinking and introduce conceptions of the body that can facilitate or improve art and design practice. The results also contribute knowledge regarding design methods in general and how to facilitate learning regarding alternative methodological foundations and what a body could be within art and design education programmes.