The Embodied Artifact: Costume as Sculptural Form and Performative Tool

This two-week intensive course invites students to explore the intersection of costume, sculpture, and performance through a practice-based approach. Costume, as one of humanity’s oldest artistic mediums, has historically served as a conduit for transformation — allowing the wearer to embody gods, archetypes, spirits, and social roles.

Working between fine art and performance, students will conceptualize and build sculptural costumes informed by personal narratives, cultural references, and imaginative speculation. The body is approached not just as a site for decoration but as a central material in the process of transformation. Through movement exercises, voice work, and performative experimentation, students will activate their wearable sculptures and learn how costume functions as both container and catalyst for new forms of presence. 

The course emphasizes critical engagement with materials and concepts, encouraging students to consider how materials can speak symbolically and sensorially. Each participant will create an original work culminating in a public or studio presentation in the form of a performance, installation, or video work