In what space do we find ourselves when we encounter any experience? Is the space determined by the experience, or is it the other way around, the experience determined by the space? Where does the space end and where do we begin? But most importantly, where and when can these two meet?
An expansion is what takes place in the space created by Monika for this experience, an expansion of consciousness through what confronts you and defines you. Drawing from her long-standing themes of cyclical time and materialization of self-knowledge through form, Monika has embarked in a journey towards her origins and into the uncertainty of the technological future ahead of us. Textile Objekt is an explosion of color, of time and space, of perception and experience that is not defined by our rational and scientific relation to the world, but by the senses: a realm that has the power to change us and affect us and, most importantly, to move us into an agency.
The spiral of the search for original forces has led Monika to explore her place in the world as part of communities like Colombia, –where she was born–, Italy and Paris, –where she has learned–, New York, –where she has lived–, and integrate them with her subjective experience of the world. The integration of the two has prompted Monika to examine traditional textile making in her native Colombia, artisan printmaking in Italy, and Modernist approaches to the integration of objects of art and functional objects of design. In her mind, there is no distinction between all these forms of creation, for Monika is a firm believer that our inner nature and spirit is the ultimate determining factor of what we do in our lives and how it manifests as experience in creation and contemplation.
To Monika, the plurality of forms, the amalgam of experience that overload our senses is the ultimate form of art since it is through the hyper-sensorial that art runs across experiences and subjectivities; the multiplicity of shapes and colors and their relation not only to our mind, but to our body is expressed through these multi-modal pieces presented in this installation.
Fabricated by Italian artisan hands against a backdrop of abstract and energetic on-site interventions that include animations, wallpaper, threads, nails, graphite and various forms of Objekts Monika’s choice of designs for textiles is enhanced by the dynamism in today’s world; through a wide range of textures and colors, the designs include bright and provokingly elegant kimono* Textile collage. The all-encompassing space created by Bravo demonstrates an aesthetic interest and integrity that goes well beyond her purely artistic work and lays bare her concern with sustainability, as her textile objects are all made from straight pieces of fabric leaving little to no waste behind.
The individual Textile Objekts are made by Monika herself, who makes each one of them unique in its design and deeply embedded with a vital part of her practice. The Textile Objekts are endowed with meaning and intention when the edges are fringed and left loose; a purposeful action that grounds the uniqueness of the designs into the textiles, making them both distinctive in their form and infinite in their possibilities.
A space that can be looked at, but that can also be worn and played with, that invites the viewer to become one with what is being presented to them is the space that is ultimately proposed by Monika. Her prominent work in public art and background in textile and fashion design, along with her understanding of our perceptions of time and language, make of this installation a de-codification of cultural signifiers that go well beyond specific cultures and practices, meshing them into an aesthetic and sustainable-friendly space that welcomes and embraces interaction and intercommunication.
*Literally translated to ‘thing to wear’, with the westernization of Japan, these Clothes lost their main function as symbols of social status and political affiliations are worn both by women and Samurais communicating social standing, political affinity, rank, and belongings to a determined feudal kingdom.
Pedro Mesa, July 2018
