Hybrid Heads

Headdresses and coverings are among the most powerful vehicles of cultural identity, referring variously to nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, profession and sub-culture. As part of a cultural identity, they can be used to distinguish or divide people, but may also serve as a constructive instrument that allows us to recognise mutual differences as a common value.

Cultural identity is continuously evolving. Photos and texts provide a vehicle to question prevailing dynamics of identity and identification, visual stereotypes and cultural representation.

Daniela Dossi’s long-term residency at the open and collective studio Manoeuvre, a multidisciplinary artist-run space in Ghent’s Rabot neighbourhood, resulted in an open design method, a textile research project based on a visual and textual archive of headdresses from around the world, and a preliminary collection of hybrid headdresses. The super-diversity of the studio provided the ideal context for this research. Together with Dossi, participants from diverse backgrounds and origins made 800 textile samples by hand using different techniques. Based on this open system, new hybrid headdresses and narratives can be designed by remixing images, texts and textiles: what might the headdress of the first Mexican, female President of the United States look like, for example?

Hybrid Heads is a project by Daniela Dossi and Manoeuvre. It is also an exhibition, an interactive installation, a web platform and a design-educational programme.