Marius Moninger - Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle

Exorcised, Exhausted, Still Here – Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle

Exorcised, Exhausted, Still Here is a collection about the monsters that live within us. The project began with masks. Ever since childhood, I have been fascinated by their ability to transform, to hide, reveal, and create new identities. When I started making masks again, a series of faces emerged that felt like in-dependent beings. From these characters, the collection slowly took shape. Each look embodies a different monster. Not a creature of horror, but an inner voice, fear, contradiction, or emotional state. Figures that many people know: the inner critic, the wounded child, the desire to belong, the need for control, or the fear of not being enough. Rather than presenting these monsters as something threatening, I wanted to invite them in. I wanted to dress them, build personalities around them, and place them in the spotlight. The collection can be understood as a kind of Met Gala for inner monsters. They are not hidden, defeated, or exorcised. They are dressed up, celebra-ted, and made visible. The title Exorcised, Exhausted, Still Here reflects this process. The collection is not about getting rid of something. It is about acknowledging what is already there. The monsters do not disappear. But perhaps it becomes possible to live alongside them. The result is six looks, six characters, and six voices. Together, they form a wordless theatrical piece about iden-tity, self-acceptance, and the many contradictions that make us human.

Marius Moninger is a fashion designer with a strong interest in characters, masks, and the storytelling potential of clothing. His work moves between fashion, costume, and performance, often exploring themes of identity, transformation, and belonging. Growing up in Germany‘s Black Forest, he was deeply influenced by local carnival traditions and their masks, creatures, and rituals. He remains fascinated by figures that exist somewhere between reality and fantasy, beauty and discomfort. These influences are combined with references from pop culture, horror cinema, and queer aesthetics. For him, fashion is a form of storytelling. Clothing can function as protection, disguise, performance, or self-expression. He is particularly interested in the ways people use dress to transform themselves, adopt roles, or construct new versions of their identity. His designs combine craftsmanship with playful and theatrical elements, resulting in looks that exist between ready-to-wear, costume, and character design while continuously questioning the boundaries of identity and self-representation.

Graduate Collection Credits
Fotos @lueaux
Models @amydidion, @finn.I_thunderheart
Set Assistance @magdi.jo