Crystal Beings: From Residue To Ritual

'Crystal Beings: From Residue to Ritual' is a workshop centered on the character 'Crystal Beings' and the creative exploration of identity, community and sustainability. Led by multidisciplinary Portuguese artist Luísa Mota, in collaboration with British designer Selom K. Amoa, the workshop invites participants of all ages and backgrounds to design and embody the Crystal Being.

Participants are invited to create a Crystal Being suit through sustainable design principles, where materials from previous workshops are reused and repurposed.  Waste is not only reused but rethought — transformed into something modular, durable, and meaningful. 

The project dissolves boundaries between plasticity, craft and contemporary art, grounding material experimentation in urgent ecological and social realities. In this workshop, Mylar is reimagined as a sculptural skin — a symbolic, transformative surface that reflects both environment and identity.

The workshop addresses issues of social and community invisibility through a new framework, the second part. Participants put on the Crystal Being suit they created and participate in a collective performance, a kind of parade where they interact nonverbally with one another and outsiders, in an anonymous way.

Impact

After the performance, participants and instructors alike gather in a circle to discuss the activity and their experiences and thoughts. 

Not only does the workshop synthesizes material experimentation with conceptual depth, it equips participants with tangible skills and critical insights into how artistic practice can operate as a tool for ecological reflection and social agency.

Workshops