COSTUME as COMMUNITY
(2026) Critical Costume 2026- Abstract
- This paper draws on Karen Barad’s agential realism - which understands agency as
relational rather than individually possessed (2007) - to examine how costumes can
act as active hosts capable of creating temporary, sensorial, and co-constituted
collectives; tactile agents that co-create relational bodies. Central to this approach
is embracing the differences bodies bring - their varied orientations, histories, and
capacities - which shape the dynamics and outcomes of each encounter and each
temporary community.
The paper engages with the Neo-Concrete movement in Brazil, particularly the
work of Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark. In Oiticica’s Parangolés (1964-1968), the
wearer becomes both medium and... (More) - This paper draws on Karen Barad’s agential realism - which understands agency as
relational rather than individually possessed (2007) - to examine how costumes can
act as active hosts capable of creating temporary, sensorial, and co-constituted
collectives; tactile agents that co-create relational bodies. Central to this approach
is embracing the differences bodies bring - their varied orientations, histories, and
capacities - which shape the dynamics and outcomes of each encounter and each
temporary community.
The paper engages with the Neo-Concrete movement in Brazil, particularly the
work of Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark. In Oiticica’s Parangolés (1964-1968), the
wearer becomes both medium and participant, activating the work through
lived, mobile engagement. Clark’s O Eu e o Tu (1967) requires cooperative
bodily negotiation, dissolving individual boundaries and generating a shared
proprioceptive feld. These practices illustrate how costume can function as an
interface for relational attunement and collective experience.
Building on these legacies, the paper turns to the author’s own costume-based
practices, where participation becomes entwined with care - an entanglement
informed by Sara Ahmed’s orientation toward the unknown (2006) and
Eva Skærbæk’s notion of care as relational practice (2009). Designing and
workshopping unfold as inseparable processes, as costume only emerges through
the entanglement of human and non-human agencies. This requires material and
relational listening(s), attuning to subtle negotiations between bodies, materials, and
contexts.
Hosting becomes an essential skill; an ongoing negotiation between giving space
and taking responsibility. Creating community through design is understood as ‘a
form of hospitality in which sharing becomes both an ethical and poetic gesture’
(Østergaard 2025). Costume as a relational host enables temporary polyphonic
communities, where human and non-human voices resonate without collapsing into
sameness. Through co-movement and mutual attunement, costume offers a way to
imagine and enact more ethical, responsive, and relational futures. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/142cdeab-3c96-4ab0-94f9-a5ce17183982
- author
- Østergaard, Charlotte LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-09-08
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- costume research, community, artistic research, ethics
- conference name
- Critical Costume 2026
- conference location
- london, United Kingdom
- conference dates
- 2026-09-09 - 2026-09-11
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 142cdeab-3c96-4ab0-94f9-a5ce17183982
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-02 21:22:03
- date last changed
- 2026-09-07 08:57:24
@misc{142cdeab-3c96-4ab0-94f9-a5ce17183982,
abstract = {{This paper draws on Karen Barad’s agential realism - which understands agency as<br/>relational rather than individually possessed (2007) - to examine how costumes can<br/>act as active hosts capable of creating temporary, sensorial, and co-constituted<br/>collectives; tactile agents that co-create relational bodies. Central to this approach<br/>is embracing the differences bodies bring - their varied orientations, histories, and<br/>capacities - which shape the dynamics and outcomes of each encounter and each<br/>temporary community.<br/>The paper engages with the Neo-Concrete movement in Brazil, particularly the<br/>work of Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark. In Oiticica’s Parangolés (1964-1968), the<br/>wearer becomes both medium and participant, activating the work through<br/>lived, mobile engagement. Clark’s O Eu e o Tu (1967) requires cooperative<br/>bodily negotiation, dissolving individual boundaries and generating a shared<br/>proprioceptive feld. These practices illustrate how costume can function as an<br/>interface for relational attunement and collective experience.<br/>Building on these legacies, the paper turns to the author’s own costume-based<br/>practices, where participation becomes entwined with care - an entanglement<br/>informed by Sara Ahmed’s orientation toward the unknown (2006) and<br/>Eva Skærbæk’s notion of care as relational practice (2009). Designing and<br/>workshopping unfold as inseparable processes, as costume only emerges through<br/>the entanglement of human and non-human agencies. This requires material and<br/>relational listening(s), attuning to subtle negotiations between bodies, materials, and<br/>contexts.<br/>Hosting becomes an essential skill; an ongoing negotiation between giving space<br/>and taking responsibility. Creating community through design is understood as ‘a<br/>form of hospitality in which sharing becomes both an ethical and poetic gesture’<br/>(Østergaard 2025). Costume as a relational host enables temporary polyphonic<br/>communities, where human and non-human voices resonate without collapsing into<br/>sameness. Through co-movement and mutual attunement, costume offers a way to<br/>imagine and enact more ethical, responsive, and relational futures.}},
author = {{Østergaard, Charlotte}},
keywords = {{costume research; community; artistic research; ethics}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
title = {{COSTUME as COMMUNITY}},
year = {{2026}},
}