MANTRAPOIESIS
Fabric
Artist´s DNA
Audio System
Listen to an audio example
This work is part of the series Solutio
In "Mantrapoiesis" the artist explores contemporary self-construction of identity, interweaving the biological with the constructed. She weaves her own genetic code, translated into binary language, in a symbolic and political act of self-affirmation: she takes control of her genetic information and reconstructs it through the ancestral gesture of weaving. Inspired by the Jacquard loom —a precursor to computing—, the action becomes a metaphor for the current possibilities of self-determination.
The original garments unravel into strips, losing their initial form, just as rigid identities today dissolve into more fluid constructions. This dissolution allows for a conscious reconstruction of the self, where the resulting pattern is not merely a translation of DNA but its deliberate rewriting.
The work is completed with a video in which the artist weaves guided by her own voice, reciting her genetic code translated into black and white. This binary mantra transforms the space into a techno-artistic ritual, suggesting that, in the digital age, identity can be reduced to its basic elements and then reconstructed according to one’s own creative will.
Born from research developed during the GlogauAir Berlin 2024 Residency, this series explores the complexity of female identity in tension with social norms and technological advancement. Using her own worn clothing as primary material — garments charged with lived experience — Englebert builds a visual language that probes the layers of social conditioning and subjectivity that shape the contemporary female psyche.
Mantrapoiesis (details)
Process