In his famous book “The Civilizing Process” sociologist Nobert Elias draws the connection between the control on the body and the discipline of the society through the corset. Exhibited for the first time in Germany and being displayed during the whole period of Costume and Collapse program, Giulia Cretulescu’s  work “Embodiment” deconstructs the corset and explores its complex relationship with society and the human body. Reflecting on the garment’s function as a protection of the vulnerable parts of human body and it’s role in liberation movements such as feminism and queer costuming, the work highlights the tension between restriction and freedom in the construction of identity.

The work is display at Pickle Bar during Costumes and Collapse’s program.

Giulia Cretiulescu is an artist, based in Bucharest. Her works are part of her long-term artistic research in the ergonomic designs of protection, prosthetics, and tools that silently shape the body and diminish or amplify its vulnerabilities. Camouflaged by comfort, the assumptions and imperatives of such designs are often left unquestioned.