Reinstitute: Performing methods of undress, má and decolonial aestheSis

Abstract

This article focuses on an analysis of Reinstitute, which was a performance intervention that was implemented in 2019, and which had the aim of troubling the construction and embodiment of the suit, which is proposed here as a garment that idolizes an inherently violent, hegemonic, Euro-American notion of masculinity. This idea of masculinity finds itself replicated on the African continent, including in the structure and curatorial practices of many of the continent’s cultural institutions, due to the legacy of colonialism. By incorporating alternative design and philosophical ideologies such as sartorial resistance, states of undress and the Japanese concept of má in the creation of sartorial alternatives to the suit, Reinstitute offers new insights into the practice of decolonial aestheSis.