2022
material: linen, alpaca, cotton, mohair, Polish mountain wool, merino, hay
photos: Aneta Drozd and REST studio
With today’s hegemony of the sense of sight, touch has been largely relegated to a phenomenon of deception aided by the rise of smooth touchscreens, displaying true-to-life images. It is the sense of touch that is responsible for our physical and emotional wellbeing and the first sense that newborn babies develop. Touch validates what we see. Nowadays our skin is starving. Touch starvation, a condition first experienced by prisoners and astronauts, is present in ever widening circles.
Rapid, global communication is deprived of multi-sensorial qualities. Will we ever be able to adapt to the modern speed and reach of life, with all of our senses? And should we?
OSTOJE are objects that invite and encourage tactile communion, inducing not only a feeling of calm but also an activation of a variety of sensations. The installation takes the form of hanging columns that are meant to be touched, perhaps embraced, and become an immersive surrounding. They are reminiscent of trees, their rough, hard textures nevertheless tempting to be touched.
The objects form a kind of shelter, while not acting as a barrier to what is outside.
The textiles were woven by hand and specific tactile sensations are elicited through the use of particular combinations of weave and yarn type, such as mohair, alpaca bouclé and linen, as well as the hay and wool stuffing that enriches the multi-sensorial experience.
