Our Body is our Anchor to the Present

Link to Monica’s Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/monicaclocascio

Monica C. LoCascio – OUR BODY IS OUR ANCHOR TO THE PRESENT
2020, Sculpture, Installation
13:15–14:00 at Jörgerstrasse 56–58, Stiege 2, Tür 3–5, 1170 Vienna (Jury only); public via Zoom

Trauma is not an event, story or memory. Trauma is of the body, and embedded in the body, in knees, hips, bellies and necks. It can change the very structure of our connective tissues and be passed down as embodied memory through generations. Trauma is the embodied experience of the non-linearity of time.

A proxy for my body, and reminiscent of religious shrouds or grandmothers’ hands, colossal sheets of bacterial cellulose display multiple generations of their culture. Embroidery mirrors the thermodynamic nature of time and the pattern of my own rhythmic, soothing mark-making. Hair is crocheted into intricate, interlocking patterns in twisting strands echoing DNA’s double helix. Sound compositions create vibratory space to resonate in bodies while video documentation of material experiments become a performance of somatic rituals.

Video of the process

Supervised by Univ.-Prof. Virgil Widrich

Commission

Univ.-Prof. Mag. rer. Nat. Dr. techn. Georg Glaeser
Sen.Lect. Dr. Bernd Kräftner

VAss. Mag. art. Nita Tandon
Univ.-Prof. Virgil Widrich