Ziv Ben Gal
Department: Man and Identity
Website: www.zbengal.com
Quasi-Mode
A modern-day tribute to the hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasi-Mode is a collection of textiles that highlight imperfections rather than hide them. For Ziv Ben Gal, it’s also a statement about man’s inherent fascination for the repulsive. By contrasting natural and artificial materials, he maximises the tension between ugliness and beauty. What at first glance looks appealing and highly tactile, is upon closer inspection ‘flawed’. Plastic fibres knitted in with natural yarns pucker into irregular bumps and bunches and hand-plucked bald patches generate irregular, speckled patterns.