Manicure Conference Modelage since 2018

in cooporation with Jinran Ha
artistic approach in the framework of the N*A*I*L*S research
shown at Lothringer 13 Halle Munich / Galerija Škuc Ljubljana / Prater Galerie @ACUD Galerie Berlin
3D model on tablet, integrated in manicure table top

Two works by Jinran Ha & Johanna Käthe Michel unravel tensions and emancipatory potentials within a particular economy tied to feminised care-work and “migrant” working-places: that of the nail studio. Both works were developed in the context of the 2018 transdisciplinary research project and publication ‘N*A*I*L*S Hacks*Facts*Fictions’.

Manicure Conference Modellage extends this exploration into a potential emancipatory reconfiguration of relationships between spaces and bodies. The furniture of the nail studio is transformed into a round table that references the seating for the 1955 first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Cold War anti-nuclear and anti-colonial diplomatic structure founded by nation-states identifying neither with Western nor Soviet-aligned powers. An interactive spatial arrangement arises that maps an alternative global order onto the nail studio: a space for clients and workers to discuss feminised labour, biopolitics, and solidarity structures eye-to-eye.

Text by Sonja Hornung

In Co-production with City of Women, Goethe-Institut Ljubljana, District Berlin, supported by Lenovo Slovenia.