Recent Events

I have been deconstructing my approach to creative practice, winding back from an aesthetic and experimental tech based approach and grounding myself in research and development. The last two months since moving to Naarm have been disruptive (as moving to a new city is) but I am finding enjoyment in the extra time and space I have while I re-establish myself.

This has involved a lot of reading, a task that I find difficult, and ignoring the voice in my head that says I should be producing producing producing.

Specifically I have been diving into text on Posthumanism, Cyberfeminism and Media Theory/History. I am interested in the ways that technology (particularly ‘immersive’ technology) influences behaviour and the ways we relate to ourselves and the world around us. As our interactions are mediated through technology, what distortions does the mediator create when translating our intentions?

Part of this exploration has been on the digital avatar and the cybernetic feedback loop that happens when an identity is passed back and forwards between a person and their algorithmic form. People have a tendency to talk about algorithms and the cloud as some kind of passive thing, rather than an active mathematical equation that you, the user, are centred within.

An entanglement happens as the distinction between the digital world and the AFK world blur, actions taken online have material effects on your body, mind and relationship to the world. I want to explore the tension in the behavioural alterations that can emerge from this loop. Algorithmic platforms coded with capitalist intent use this tension to influence behaviour and further entrench colonial systems.

My goal is to better apply my ideas and concepts to experimental performance works, removing my online presence where practical and finding new forms for creative output.

Drawing

The one creative output I have had the attention span for is hand drawn animations. These are done on my iPad, usually at 1am when I can’t sleep and I am listening to podcasts.

Here is a video of all the animations I’ve done so far. About 2-5 hours per 3 second video!

Reading List

Glitch Feminism by Legacy Russel – I recently re-read the manifesto and really enjoy the ideas presented. A call to arms to embrace glitched identities and occupy digital spaces as an act of resistance to algorithmic categorisation and colonisation.

The Mushroom at the End of The World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing – An incredible, perspective shifting book. A study of the Matsutake Mushroom that demonstrates material relationality in a way that I have been seeking to better define for myself. A story that centres non-human protagonists, the Pine Forests, Mushrooms and History lead us through a complex web of economic activity and cultural identity as communities intersect with the edges of capitalism, taking precarious forms. I will need to re-read a few times to fully absorb.

Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman – In my quest to read less science fiction I picked this book up and did not put it down, except to take a few deep breaths at mid point for reasons that will become obvious when you read the book.

The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem – Ridiculous pulp sci-fi that has some really cool themes of posthumanism and techno surrealism. Futarama lifted stories directly from this book (the robot planet for example) and the main character is one of the most frustratingly pedantic characters I’ve ever read.