Professor Priska Morger – “priskAMORger” – joined HGK Basel in 2009. From 2011 to 2022 she held the post of Creative Lead at the Institute of Fashion Design (now the Fashion Design degree programme at the ICDP), and in 2022 she was appointed Professor of Fashion Design in the bachelor’s degree programme in Fashion Design and in the master’s studio in Fashion Design.

priskAMORger on her artistic work, biography and “body methods”:

DON’T BELT UP. UNSTRAP YOURSELF!

My holistic work is the manifestation of my lived experiences. My gentle tongue speaks: I like looking into the light of the observer, because I myself am an observer. My awareness of dissimilarity in today’s society began early in my childhood due to my camouflaged skin (Vitiligo). I played with the reactions of the people staring at me in the small Swiss village where I grew up. It was a kind of silent dialogue with a loud gaze – an aura that speaks for itself.

Since then, I have been on a “soul promenade” to express my own special self, a new expressive perspective, a new awareness of body and beauty; in short, to cultivate dissimilarity. With this in mind, 2011 saw me initiate the dissemination of the LOOK THERAPY method and, from 2011 to 2022, act as artistic director of the Fashion Design degree programme at the ICDP (when it was still called the Institute of Fashion Design). During that time I was DOING FASHION’s artistic director.

Sameness can only be overcome by acknowledging the dissimilarity of our bodies, and tackled by the unique experiences of those who understand fashion in a broader, holistic sense.

The body knocks on the door and finds the leather belts.

Belt 1, a leitmotif: tighten all your belts and choose the one that opens your innermost being.
Belt 2, a problem: the uniformity and mass production of the fashion system are doomed.
Belt 3, a call to action: supports dissimilar diversity in our bodies.
Belt 4, a request: come together to create vibrant, sparkling and creative emotional formats.
Belt 5, hope: changes the system to adapt it to our bodily diversity and to spend creative spa time.
Psycho-hygiene versus psycho-terror.
Belt 6, an impulse: no journeys with pre-recorded bodies and standards.
Activate your spirit and rid yourself of conventions.
Belt 7, an outlook: wear your heart and eyes proudly on your tongue.
Belt 8, an action: *Don’t belt up. Unstrap yourself!*
Perform aesthetic self-care, don’t be a fashion victim!

The challenge of overcoming controlled sameness can only be met by acknowledging the diversity of our bodies and embracing these unique experiences of fashion creators. 

The speed of the images flickering before our eyes teaches us to see a lot of things, but to understand them only superficially. There is no time to stop, go deeper and comprehend what one really sees. Only the eyes travel. The understanding stays put. Learning to see mindfully and consciously means learning to decipher what one sees. It calls for reflection and adaptation, and enables discussion with a clear eye and without judgement.

Why body methods?

During my time at HGK Basel FHNW, I have pursued my need to learn more about the multilayered embedding of a healthy body in its immediate, everyday environment. The finite body contains the infinite, which is neither soul nor spirit: the development of the body itself. It thus contains what subsequently needs to be developed. The body is our immediate reality, the home of our mind and our self.

It is an entity that is difficult to defend at the interface with the outside world. The body can speak, think, dream and trigger emotional responses in its own way. The body is constantly sensing!¹ It feels the skin of clothes, subtle textiles, grass, stones, metal, rabbit food and materials used in bodywork, such as a wooden egg, a bamboo stick or a silk scarf. The following questions guide me in my examination of the theoretical knowledge and the practical techniques I have explored as part of my teaching: how are we in contact with the world through our bodies? What forms of contact do we allow?

What effect does Gerda Alexander-based bodywork have on creative design processes? What influence does one’s own body image have on one’s understanding of fashion design? In order to establish a holistic approach to design, how can Gerda Alexander-based bodywork techniques be integrated into the teaching of the Fashion Design bachelor’s and master’s degree programme at the ICDP Institute of the HGK FHNW in Basel? My personal goal is to use my newly acquired expertise to help students get to know and appreciate their individual bodies in depth beyond conventional and traditional beauty norms and ultimately to stimulate creative fashion experiments and introduce new design methods into the curricula. The “FUTURE ARENA” forms the framework for this approach, which I regard as a form of aesthetic self-care. This newly initiated platform of the Fashion Design degree programme gives space to experimental, interdisciplinary and performative events in the context of artistic practice-based research, in which the human being is at the centre of the event.

¹ See Husslein-Arco, Agnes; Munder, Heike; Trummer, Thomas D. (eds.): Markus Schinwald. Zurich 2007.

• März 24: Artist in Residence, Vessel Studio Ibiza_BREAK OUT IN FASHION THROUGH EUTONY
• January 2024: Papiermühle Basel, Kooperation Mueumsnacht Basel / Leitung *Performing Fashion*
• 2019-2023: Ausbildung / Weiterbildung Eutonie-Pädagogin und -Therapeutin
• Mai 2022: Einladung mit Bakri Bakhit in die SCHOOL Wien, Grüngasse 22, Projekt TOM*BOLA Ausstellung
• 2021: Kunstmuseum Basel: Eutonie-Videosequenz als Dialog mit der Ausstellung zu Sophie Taeuber-Arp, zudem Workshop-Format & Video-Kooperation als Kuratorin des Projekts: *Stimulans Loves You*
• 2011-2021: Kuration Doing Fashion-Graduation Shows 2011-2018 & Doing Fashion Graduation-Videos 2019 & 2020
• 2021: WILD THING, die Publikation und Ausstellung der Schweizer Modeszene
  Video: Don’t belt up – unstrap yourself!
• 2020: Alexandra Bachzetsis, CHASING A GHOST Performance Produktion Styling mit Eva Bühler
• Oktober 2019: Einladung ACfFR MAK Labor Museum Wien Vortrag Performance & Publikation 2022 SKIN HOST & HEAVELY VISITOR
• Oktober 2018: Einladung ACfFR an die Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Wien, Vortrag Performance Look Therapy
• Mai 2018: SEXYLAND Amsterdam
  Performance Avant-Gardening mit Djana Covic
• Mai 2017: Look Therapy - All Over Over All
  Kuratieren, Performance & Kooperation Kusnthalle Basel mit den Studierenden von Doing Fashion, Djana Covic, Alex Murray Leslie & Papiro bei der Ausstellung von Maria Loboda
• 2015: Design Preis Schweiz, Gewinnendenkommunikation No 0 - No 5 Edition_Doing Fashion Paper, 7 Publikationen umgesetzt als Künstlerische Leiterin