With “Cosmic Static,” Petra Zelić bridges the gap between digital imagery and the question of human origins. At the heart of the work lies television static—a symbol connecting technology, memory, and the cosmos.

The project takes as its starting point a familiar image from the digital world: the flickering static of a television screen. Zelić detaches this motif from its technical context, linking it instead to cosmic microwave background radiation—that faint echo from the early stages of the universe following the Big Bang.

In doing so, a seemingly purely technological form of interference becomes a reference to something far more ancient. The project explores the contrast between our increasingly digital daily lives and humanity’s primal connection to nature, the universe, and one another.

This tension is translated directly into the garments. A jacket echoes the visual texture of television static, bringing technological interference onto the body. Contrasting with this, the colorful trousers draw inspiration from cosmic formations, energy bursts, and the visual structures of the universe.

Together, they create a dialogue between artificial and natural imagery, between technology and humanity. Central to this is the concept of connection. The project asks whether digital environments bring us closer together or simultaneously create distance—both from ourselves and from immediate, tangible experiences.

This gives the static a new meaning. Rather than merely representing interference or a lack of information, it becomes a symbolic portal—and a reminder that digital culture is but a comparatively recent layer of our existence.
“Cosmic Static” fuses fashion, technology, and cosmic imagery, reminding us that beneath our digital present lies a shared origin that extends far beyond it.