Fleshquake is a video project about freedom of movement, beauty idealizations and critical society which stems from the aspiration to challenge and question Western notions of beauty, normality, and decency.

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The project investigates a research of movement performed through the inclusion and development of tailor-made costumes. Beginning in 2019, the artists conducted studies on cosmetic surgery and medical silicone to be able to reproduce body implants for breasts and buttocks using biodegradable materials such as agar-agar. At first sight the material might resemble silicone, but on the contrary, its fragile properties deem a short life cycle. Body enhancements are revealed as garments to redefine the “plastic body” and its standardized perfection.

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By emphasizing constructions of femininity, sexuality, gender politics and the often objectified dancing body, the video aims to challenge these rules and contemporary beauty trends by suggesting the following questions:

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What does femininity represent in Western society? How does this inform the way bodies should move and how they should look?

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What if cosmetic implants were made of a fragile material? How would this redefine the perfect body?

 

Are we spectators, recipients or critics of how others choose their own bodily metamorphosis?

 

 

The project is developed by the artists Greta Desirée Facchinato and Raquel Sánchez Gálvez togehter with Silvia Sandri (costume designer), Valentino Russo (sound composer and video editing), Alberto Omiste (photography director) and three performers with different dance and performance backgrounds – Federica dalla Pozza, Alkis Barbas and Saskia Wieser.

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Generously supported by De School Amsterdam, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Biovegan (DE).