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GESTO is a reserch project where each ACT centers on a single gesture, inviting artists from different backgrounds to explore a shared theme.
Functioning as a platform, GESTO showcases multiple perspectives through conversation, movement and visuals: reflecting how meaning is never fixed.
‘GESTO’
/’hes.to/ noun
01. Latin origin: gerere. To have in or on it, contain, bear.
To cherish, entertain, harbour (feelings, attitudes, etc.). To carry on, perform, do.
02. A movement of the body, hands, arms, or head to express
an idea or feeling.ACT’
/akt/ noun
01. Latin origin: āct- or āctus. Relates to "doing," "driving,"
or "movement"
02. An act is a large, distinct division within a play, opera, or
sometimes
even in literature, marking a significant shift in
time, setting, or mood.
GESTO ACT 001 // TO UNDRESS
Nakedness is a constant return to origin, to birth. We come into this world naked, to undress is to be re-born.
The opposite of nakedness is not being clothed, I’ts opposite is disguise, the mask.
No one knows what a body can do, even less so when it is naked.
IN THIS FIRST ACT YOU WILL FIND,
Stef Hulskamp
‘hiroshima trees’Stef writes through the experience of living in a body that no longer matches what it used to promise. The text moves between everyday moments, memories of illness, and quiet relationships, always shadowed by the feeling of being a fraud. It’s about wanting to be touched and seen, while carrying the fear of being exposed.
Bart Drost
‘oeuvre of melancholy and longing’Bart’s work is built on repetition, zooming in on one specific part of the body. Each drawing shows a slight shift, sometimes including an object or piece of clothing linked to that area.His work looks at how we dress, sense, and carry emotion through what we choose to show, or hide.
Shai Datauker
‘you can’t compare apples and oranges’Shai reworks Apple devices by sanding them down, removing their functions and exposing their surface. The focus is on keyboards, questioning how we communicate, and what gets lost or revealed in the process.
Iris Vermeulen
‘at the sauna’Iris presents a visual essay about her experience working at a sauna where everyone is naked except the staff. She reflects on how nudity changes the way people behave and how it feels to be dressed in a space where others are not.
Suheeshan
‘longing to belong’Suheeshan shares a personal text about migration, language, and the feeling of never fully arriving. The piece reflects on what it means to be between places, always translating yourself, and trying to belong in a world that often feels just out of reach.
Hannah the human
‘the reverse striptease’Hannah presents a movement performance where the artist plays with sequence, posture, and expression, quietly questioning how from the moment we are born, we are constantly ‘adding layers’ to our body.
Matias Alfonzo
‘siempre nos parecemos a los dioses que adoramos’Matias visual essay talks about the flesh, religion, shame, and desire. It also presents a text in the form of dialogue that mixes confession and critique on how much, or how little, do the gods we worship resemble us.
Jô Amorim Pascoa Borher
‘I’m still dancing naked in the mirror’Jô’s text moves between memory and queerness, showing how clothes, mirrors, and movement shape identity and what began in private now opens into something shared.
Pre-order ACT 001
GESTO is a self-funded and self-published project, we base our printing schedule upon demand to ensure zero waste and assure our stock is limited to the amount of copies ordered.
ACT 001 is ready for pre-order. All orders will begin shipping on November 10th.
100+ pages
8 visual / written essays
100gms paper
Canvas cover
English and Spanish
With base in Berlin, printed in Amsterdam.
Heart in Buenos Aires
Brought to life and Art Directed by
Joaquina Hintermeyer & Matias Alfonzo.
Berlin stocklist coming soon.
For all inquiries and stocklist information, please send us an email.
GRACIAS