“Corsets Then and Now” brings a series of visual projects together, which jointly wish to integrate the presence of female ancestors into the becoming of the personal artistic body. The metaphor present in the title introduces the hegemony of norms as a stratified continuum from which each escape is (only) an interruption of the status-quo. The corset, this oppressive vestimentary item, is considered to be a symbol of the patriarchy-induced pressure. The removal from oblivion of certain women, the embodying and subsequently resignifying such histories within the creative process can feel like an intimate “un-corsetting”.

Jasmina Al Qaisi, Aurora Király, Alexandra Ivanciu, Jolanta Nowaczyk and Spot the women! bring the marks, the development, the knowledge, the failure and the recognition inherent in the processes of artistic becoming, into discussion. These five proposals joined under “Corsets Then and Now” are critical subjectifications of the mechanisms which represent art’s values. The works, based on artistic research, formulate micro-ontologies which disorientate the field of history.

Aurora Király tackles contemporary art in different perspectives – as an artist but also as a curator and cultural/educational project initiator. She has been teaching at the Dynamic Image and Photography Department, within the Bucharest National University of Arts since 2007. She coordinated “Galeria nouă”, a space dedicated to photography and experimental film, between 2001 and 2008. Her artistic projects bring into discussion the relation between the artist and history in general but especially art history. Her preferred mediums are photography, drawing, textile collage and installations. Aurora Király’s practice includes pursuing the documentation of the Romanian artistic scene, pursuit visible in projects like: “Confessions XXI – Revisiting the Past (2007-2012)” – a collection of video interviews of Romanian artists, critics and art historians belonging to different generations, the bilingual (english- romanian) book “Photography in Contemporary Art. Trends in Romania After 1989”, published by “Galeria nouă” at Unarte Publishing House, in 2007. She coordinated the series “Art Studio Meetings: on Artistic Practices in Contemporary Art” within the SwitchLab platform.

Alexandra Ivanciu lives and works in Leipzig, undertaking a post-MA programme within the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig. Alexandra has graduated BA and MA degrees under the Bucharest National University of Arts. She has participated to diverse group shows in museums, galleries and alternative art spaces in Bucharest, Zagreb, Berlin, Timișoara, Poznań and had two solo shows in Bucharest. She has been working within the HAZY BORDERS group for the last two years, accomplishing an audio piece (“Sounds from the Circlusphere”) and a performance-theater work at LOFFT Leipzig (“Just a Circlusion”).

Jasmina Al-Qaisi is a writer and an archivist. She produces audio pieces for free, independent, temporary or mobile radios and is a member of the group of artists interested in sound named “Research and Waves”. She co-authors different audio actions with the artist Ralf Wendt.

Jolanta Nowaczyk is a polish artist, living and working in Prague. She has graduated the Multimedia Departament under the Krakow School of Art (BA) and Szczecin (MA) and also a specialized WHW programme within the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Her artistic practice is research-oriented, pursuing the mechanisms of contemporary art, private collections and dark matter. Works by her have been displayed in CSW Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw, BWA Nowy Sącz, BWA Kronika, Gallery Nova in Zagreb.

Spot the women! is an educational initiative started on Instagram which expand the question “Where is She?” and at the same time questioning the role of female artists within art history. The initiative militates for the presence of works of art made by female artists in permanent museum collections and for their inclusion in art history text book meant for primary school, high school and university education. She has been working within the HAZY BORDERS group for the last two years, accomplishing an audio piece (“Sounds from the Circlusphere”) and a performance-theater work at LOFFT Leipzig (“Just a Circlusion”).