Monika Dorniak is a multi-media artist exploring rhizomatic connections by engaging with philosophy, science, design, art and performance. In 2017 she graduated from MA Art and Science at Central Saint Martins, UAL with a dissertation and artistic work about the possibilities for reclaiming the alienated self, and was nominated for the Studiomakers Prize by Tiffany & co. X Outset. Through the past decade she has presented and exhibited internationally and held workshops on the exploration of body and mind. Her long-term research is on the human body and mind in relation to the environment we inhabit(ed) and the consequences of cultural and technological changes in the Anthropocene Era.

The experimental research and workshop ‘Deconstruction as a Virtual Component of Construction’ is a physical and mental exploration. Its theme; the identification of self through community and dress, has previously been explored in a project in collaboration with performers in Berlin, where, in six sessions, the artist shared her phenomenological, psychological and sociopolitical research, discussing specific questions with the performers, who then expressed the research physically. The score was defined by the theoretical research and textile pieces or costumes which became the threads of conversation.

For Antiuniversity Now festival, the artist will bring costumes, textile works, and theoretical questions to London; she wants to continue her research together with participants. Questions may include: Does a process of identifying others’ action differ from a process of identifying an own(ed) action? How far can one forget self to be able to connect with another self? Under what conditions can fabric become dress, and vice versa?

The workshop is open to all who are interested in the topics and like to work in groups. Experience in movement practice is helpful, but not necessary. The participants can take part in all four hours, or drop in at each full hour. The rehearsals are open and visitors can also participate as audience members.