Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype) , 2018, trailer, Unit 110 New York.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype), 2018, install view, Unit 110 New York.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ , 2018, logo designed by Gabríel Markan, install view, Unit 110 New York.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™
(prototype), 2018, install view, Unit 110 New York.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™
(prototype), 2018, install view, Unit 110 New York.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ , logo designed by Gabríel Markan, 2018
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™
(prototype), 2018, trailer, Amsterdam.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™
(prototype), 2018, trailer, Antwerpen.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype) , 2019, trailer, Reykjavik.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype), 2019, trailer, London.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype) , 2019, trailer, Reykjavik.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype), 2019, trailer, London.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype)
unit 110 New York
Opening: 14.11.2018
#110 New York Mart Mall
75 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002
Sat 2-6 PM
window 24h
The exhibition marks the launch of Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype), an anxiety reducing device engineered and designed by Saemundur Thor Helgason in collaboration with fashion designer Agata Mickiewicz. The exhibition also features a new written contribution from Sophie Hoyle and a graphic identity by Gabríel Markan. The work is a continuation of a larger project called ‘Félag Borgara’, (eng. Fellowship of Citizens) an interest group founded by the artist in Reykjavik in October 2017 with the aim of lobbying for basic income in Iceland through apolitical means.
Financial insecurity can cause frustration and worries that affect the nervous system. The Solar Plexus is a dense cluster of nerve cells and supporting tissue located behind the stomach in the region of the celiac artery just below the diaphragm. It is also known as the celiac plexus and is a crucial connection to the brain. The Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ is a Deep Touch Pressure (DTP) technology that stimulates the Solar Plexus and calms an anxious mind → a medicine-free treatment.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ was inspired by Helgason’s own experiences as a creative practitioner suffering from anxiety and panic attacks in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. A decade later, ‘crisis’ has been normalized where unpaid- and underpaid labor and flexible working hours is now integral to the functioning of the economy and its inherent logic. These structural changes are directly impacting the laborer’s body and neural system. The design of the belt simulates a finger pressing into the solar plexus area, a motion and coping mechanism Helgason discovered would reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, leading him to further investigate the underlying neurological processes. Acknowledging his own entanglement within late capitalism, Helgason proposes a new product, the Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™, designed to temporarily reduce discomfort until an economic system is found that provides financial security to all inhabitants.
With the help of Karolina Fund, the exhibition also serves as a fundraising platform to finance the production of the BETA edition of the Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ for testing and feedback purposes. Visitors can contribute to the project here.
Sophie Hoyle is an artist and writer whose practice explores an intersectional approach to post-colonial, queer, feminist, anti-psychiatry and disability issues. Their work looks at the relation of the personal to (and as) political, individual and collective anxieties, and how alliances can be formed where different kinds of inequality and marginalisation intersect. They relate personal experiences of being queer, non-binary and part of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) diaspora to wider forms of structural violence. From lived experience of psychiatric conditions and trauma, or PTSD, they began to explore the history of biomedical technologies rooted in state and military surveillance and control.
Agata Mickiewicz is a Polish fashion designer based between Reykjavik and Berlin. Mickiewicz graduated from the fashion design department of Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2010. Her work has been featured in magazines and blogs worldwide. Fashion houses Mickiewicz has worked for include Victor&Rolf, Amsterdam (2012) and Rick Owens, Paris (2014-15) and she took part in the fashion reality TV show ‘Project Runway’ (2015).
Gabríel Markan is a Reykjavik based graphic- and type designer and founder of Gnax Type type foundry. Gabríel graduated from the graphic design department at Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2017 and has since worked as a freelance graphic- and type designer for various clients in Iceland, Europe and India.
The exhibition was produced by Fellowship of Citizens and kindly supported by Myndlistarsjóður & Myndstef, Iceland.
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unit 110 New York
Opening: 14.11.2018
#110 New York Mart Mall
75 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002
Sat 2-6 PM
window 24h
The exhibition marks the launch of Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype), an anxiety reducing device engineered and designed by Saemundur Thor Helgason in collaboration with fashion designer Agata Mickiewicz. The exhibition also features a new written contribution from Sophie Hoyle and a graphic identity by Gabríel Markan. The work is a continuation of a larger project called ‘Félag Borgara’, (eng. Fellowship of Citizens) an interest group founded by the artist in Reykjavik in October 2017 with the aim of lobbying for basic income in Iceland through apolitical means.
Financial insecurity can cause frustration and worries that affect the nervous system. The Solar Plexus is a dense cluster of nerve cells and supporting tissue located behind the stomach in the region of the celiac artery just below the diaphragm. It is also known as the celiac plexus and is a crucial connection to the brain. The Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ is a Deep Touch Pressure (DTP) technology that stimulates the Solar Plexus and calms an anxious mind → a medicine-free treatment.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ was inspired by Helgason’s own experiences as a creative practitioner suffering from anxiety and panic attacks in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. A decade later, ‘crisis’ has been normalized where unpaid- and underpaid labor and flexible working hours is now integral to the functioning of the economy and its inherent logic. These structural changes are directly impacting the laborer’s body and neural system. The design of the belt simulates a finger pressing into the solar plexus area, a motion and coping mechanism Helgason discovered would reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, leading him to further investigate the underlying neurological processes. Acknowledging his own entanglement within late capitalism, Helgason proposes a new product, the Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™, designed to temporarily reduce discomfort until an economic system is found that provides financial security to all inhabitants.
With the help of Karolina Fund, the exhibition also serves as a fundraising platform to finance the production of the BETA edition of the Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ for testing and feedback purposes. Visitors can contribute to the project here.
Sophie Hoyle is an artist and writer whose practice explores an intersectional approach to post-colonial, queer, feminist, anti-psychiatry and disability issues. Their work looks at the relation of the personal to (and as) political, individual and collective anxieties, and how alliances can be formed where different kinds of inequality and marginalisation intersect. They relate personal experiences of being queer, non-binary and part of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) diaspora to wider forms of structural violence. From lived experience of psychiatric conditions and trauma, or PTSD, they began to explore the history of biomedical technologies rooted in state and military surveillance and control.
Agata Mickiewicz is a Polish fashion designer based between Reykjavik and Berlin. Mickiewicz graduated from the fashion design department of Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2010. Her work has been featured in magazines and blogs worldwide. Fashion houses Mickiewicz has worked for include Victor&Rolf, Amsterdam (2012) and Rick Owens, Paris (2014-15) and she took part in the fashion reality TV show ‘Project Runway’ (2015).
Gabríel Markan is a Reykjavik based graphic- and type designer and founder of Gnax Type type foundry. Gabríel graduated from the graphic design department at Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2017 and has since worked as a freelance graphic- and type designer for various clients in Iceland, Europe and India.
The exhibition was produced by Fellowship of Citizens and kindly supported by Myndlistarsjóður & Myndstef, Iceland.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™
(prototype)
at Lady Helen, London 2019.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™
(prototype)
at Lady Helen, London 2019.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™
(prototype)
at Lady Helen, London 2019.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™
(prototype)
at Lady Helen, London 2019.
Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ (prototype) at Lady Helen, London 2019
Lady Helen
2019
Featuring works by:
Nora Hansen &
Saemundur Thor Helgason
Lady Helen is a project space located on a rooftop pavilion in Plaistow, East London. It presents two-person exhibitions exploring the tension between commonality and competition in artistic practices.
Sub or Dom?
Agent Ethan Hunt enters the vault through a vent in the ceiling and descends, suspended upside-down from a black rope. Cold, even light bounces off stark white panels shimmering with clinical perfection. Glamorous, sterilized surfaces. Total, enveloping silence.
In his hand a thermometer monitors his body temperature: 72,3°F. If the temperature rises, the alarm’s gonna go off. If any part of his body touches the ground or the walls, the alarm’s gonna go off.
If he makes a sound, the alarm’s gonna go off. Action is vital but limited. The rope from the ceiling is attached to a harness, a tight black net of belts and ribbons. Three thick belts level with diaphragm, waist and hips give main support to the dangling figure. The fabric around the shoulders and legs creates a doubled U-shaped support forced together with lacing, looking much like a corsage.
Partway through the mission the rope gives way and Hunt drops suddenly before being yanked hard to a stop just inches above the ground. Changing the pivot point in the harness constantly, balancing requires tremendous muscle control/ core strength. His body temperature rises. Sweat accumulates on the rim of his glasses. Almost a droplet. If that drop touches the ground...
A harness is a looped restraint or support, gear for adventures such as extreme sports and kinky clubbing. It serves function, fetish and fun alike. More equipment than garment, it can be an accessory but can also be essential. It is enabling but can also be disabling. It can protect, make us fight or make us feeble. Your choice.
2019
Featuring works by:
Nora Hansen &
Saemundur Thor Helgason
Lady Helen is a project space located on a rooftop pavilion in Plaistow, East London. It presents two-person exhibitions exploring the tension between commonality and competition in artistic practices.
Sub or Dom?
Agent Ethan Hunt enters the vault through a vent in the ceiling and descends, suspended upside-down from a black rope. Cold, even light bounces off stark white panels shimmering with clinical perfection. Glamorous, sterilized surfaces. Total, enveloping silence.
In his hand a thermometer monitors his body temperature: 72,3°F. If the temperature rises, the alarm’s gonna go off. If any part of his body touches the ground or the walls, the alarm’s gonna go off.
If he makes a sound, the alarm’s gonna go off. Action is vital but limited. The rope from the ceiling is attached to a harness, a tight black net of belts and ribbons. Three thick belts level with diaphragm, waist and hips give main support to the dangling figure. The fabric around the shoulders and legs creates a doubled U-shaped support forced together with lacing, looking much like a corsage.
Partway through the mission the rope gives way and Hunt drops suddenly before being yanked hard to a stop just inches above the ground. Changing the pivot point in the harness constantly, balancing requires tremendous muscle control/ core strength. His body temperature rises. Sweat accumulates on the rim of his glasses. Almost a droplet. If that drop touches the ground...
A harness is a looped restraint or support, gear for adventures such as extreme sports and kinky clubbing. It serves function, fetish and fun alike. More equipment than garment, it can be an accessory but can also be essential. It is enabling but can also be disabling. It can protect, make us fight or make us feeble. Your choice.