World 225, Enactment i: report

This Enactment explored World 225, in which clothing workshops provide space for creation and customisation.

It was organised by Natalia Bernal, Luisa Bula, Sofía Montagut, Joel Manevich and David Duarte, third-year undergraduate BA Design students in the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.

It was one of a number of enactments that were created by students for a public event, Wearable Speculations, at Juanita Echeverri’s gallery in Bogotá.

The text guiding this Enactment:

The rebellion of the Colombian textile industry in 1991 in World 225 prevented the economic opening of the sector, thus the government opened clothing workshops to encourage creation; these rely on used clothing banks and national textiles for the customisation and making of own garments. People design their clothes from these materials, and their aesthetics are inspired by available everyday objects, consciously using textiles, and thus building a visual and material language that is distinctive of the country. As a result, the value of the production and development of a national aesthetic from everyday life was recognised.

Thanks to the creation workshops promoted by the government, people can go to these to make and customise their clothes from garments available on site and with items that they bring themselves, as well as with the necessary supplies (pattern rulers, threads, sewing machines, etc.). Similarly, it is expected that through the use of the laboratory, people will donate garments to continue the operation of the workshops. By creating new versions of garments, people seek to express their personal identity through textile interventions such as embroidery or prints based on everyday objects. The clothing laboratories become spaces for collective learning, where people learn from each other, based on the possibilities that arise from everyday life.

In this enactment, visitors were invited to step into World 225 by customising a fabric scarf using various stamps and inks, and then to reflect on the experience.

For more details, see the group’s report (which includes a recipe to recreate the enactment for yourself):

The whole Wearable Speculations event was a great success, attracting a big audience to experience the fictional worlds. The students were proud of their achievements.

Here is a reflection from group member Natalia:

Sometimes we take for granted that everybody can and has made things with their hands. But not, we realised that making something as simple as a neckerchief—at least it seemed simple to us designers—to print it, to embellish it can be a magical thing to many others. It was a creative act that many people who visited us didn’t feel able to do.

This Enactment was devised by Natalia Bernal, Luisa Bula, Sofía Montagut, Joel Manevich and David Duarte, based on a World contributed by the same group, using a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows others to share and adapt the work in any medium and for any purpose, providing that they credit the authors and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.

Photographs: Alejandro Barragan.