Micro-residency: Interdisciplinary, identity-based and ecological research on clothing
© Photo Credits: Camila Vásquez.
La manda : Interdisciplinary, identity-based and ecological research on clothing — Camila Vásquez
Micro-residency at articule from October 14th to 17th, 2025.
Inspired by the Chilean expression "ponerse como de manda," which refers to an outfit worn very (too) often, this project explores, through voluntary simplicity, another way of dressing. This research stems from an ecological and ethical reflection on the current social and environmental crisis. As a Chilean living in the Global North, I am concerned by the fact that the world's largest textile landfill is located in the Atacama Desert. Used clothing from North America and fast fashion collections end up there illegally, threatening its ecosystem. What can be done in the face of this reality and my internal contradiction? Prompted by a passage from Walden (1854), in which Henry David Thoreau dissects the role of clothing in the society of his time and criticizes fashion, I began to wonder what the attributes of an essential wardrobe would be today, and how clothing can express the different facets of a person's identity.
During this four-day micro-residency, I wish to carry out theoretical research I refer to as "embodied." Its aim is to explore my relationship with two pioneers of the avant-garde who worked with clothing: Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Sonia Terk-Delaunay, as well as with two major South American cultural touchstones: the Chilean artist Violeta Parra and the Argentine music group Soda Stereo.
My intention is to produce knowledge and learning through the body and affects, not only through reading and study, but also and especially through a performative approach. Halfway between a teenager's bedroom wallpapered with posters of idols, a cluttered studio-workspace filled with books, notes, and diagrams, and a dance studio filled with intoxicating music, the gallery transforms into a receptacle for an exploration that is both bodily and conceptual, at times personal and at times radical. — Camila Vásquez
Artist
© Photo Credits: Camila Vásquez. Ce qui se perd. Performance. Centre d’art Rozynski, Way’s Mills, Estrie, 2024. Photographer: Jean-Michel Naud. Courtesy of Centre d’art Rozynski
Camila Vásquez (she/her/ella) is an interdisciplinary artist of Chilean origin. She lives and works in Estrie, on the ancestral lands of the W8banaki Nation, Ndakina. Since 2005, she has been active in the arts as an artist, teacher, curator, mediator, and cultural worker. Her artistic practice is embodied in daily life and develops through long-term projects that challenge the boundaries separating art from other spheres of living, as well as dominant conceptions of social space and knowledge. Her work has been presented in various art centers, galleries, and events in Argentina, Chile, Spain and in Quebec, including the 3e impérial centre d'essais en art actuel, the Rozynski Art Centre, Galerie B-312, the Foreman Art Gallery, Praxis art actuel, Péristyle Nomade, VIVA! Art Action, and DARE-DARE, as well as in autonomous or fleeting presentations. Since 2022, she has been the coordinator of the Foreman Art Gallery's Community Art Lab at Bishop's University.
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