Category Archives: Posthumanism

Hyderabad: Prof Pramod K Nayar, faculty in Department of English, University of Hyderabad (UoH) has authored a book, Alzheimer's Disease Memoirs: Poetics of the Forgetting Self, published by Springer.

The book examines writings by persons in the early stages of AD and biographies of such persons by their caretakers. The chapters are organised around "the wounded self", "the wounded narrative", "bio-sociality" and questions of "care".

Themes and formal features of numerous AD texts, such as the "AD commons", stigmatisation, bio-value, the "dysnarrative", the "affectively coherent narrative", among others, come in for attention.

Among Nayar's newest books are The Human Rights Graphic Novel (2021), Essays in Celebrity Culture (2021), Eco-precarity (2019), Brand Postcolonial (2018), Bhopal's Ecological Gothic (2017), Human Rights and Literature (2016). His work most recently appeared in Journal of Posthumanism, Biography, Celebrity Studies, Narrative, besides anthologies like B R Ambedkar: The Quest for Justice, The Edinburgh History of Reading, Routledge International Handbook of Charisma, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Post-humanism.

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Book on Alzheimers published by UoH faculty - The Hans India

Organizers: Enrica Maria Ferrara (Trinity College Dublin) and Russell J. A. Kilbourn (Wilfrid Laurier University)

As Andr Bazin writes in The Ontology of the Photographic Image: For the first time, an image of the outside world takes shape automatically, without creative human intervention All art is founded upon human agency, but in photography alone can we celebrate its absence (2009, 7). Even in the digital era, the photographic basis of the cinematic image continues to signify, as does Bazins singling out of post-war Italian film as the prototype for an audiovisual modality befitting a newworld and new subjectivities. With the above claim in mind, this panel seeks papers that explore the posthumanist dimension of Italian cinema, and/or other audiovisual media, from post-war to contemporary, as a means of escaping a human-centred gaze.What does it really mean to speak of cinema as the absence of the human? Adopting Karen Barads ideas, it means emphasizing the dimension of intra-action between human and technological apparatuses as a way to enact new subjectivities at the intersection of human and non-human entities (Barad 2003); it also means enhancing the notion of human identity as co-ontology (Nancy 2000), a relational identity that recognizes the illusory notion of separateness between body and mind, and between the human and its related others (Ferrara 2020). As highlighted by Elena Past (2019), certain featuressuch as a slow walking pace, intermixing or juxtaposition of fictional and non-fictional elements, the use of non-professional actors, long takes, hand held cameras, and long shotsare particularly suited to illustrating the entanglement of human and non-human ontologies. From this perspective, it is productive to analyse through a posthumanist lens films by traditional auteurs, such as Fellini, Pasolini, Antonioni, Wertmller, but also contemporary features by directors such as Dario Argento, Marco Bellocchio, Michelangelo Frammartino, Matteo Garrone, Paolo Genovese, Paolo Sorrentino, and Alice Rohrwacher, to name but a few. At the same time, however, it is also arguable that cinemas gaze is irreducibly anthropomorphic; i.e., not merely centering (on) the human body, in the form of actors bodies and faces, for instance, but alsocontra Baradinscribing a humanist agenda in its very materiality.

This panel seeks papers, therefore, that offer critical posthumanist readings of cinema as medium and mode of expression or representation or some other process, including the possibility of representing or revealing what was heretofore unavailable to physical, affective, or intellectual apprehension, which might be thought of in productively posthumanist terms, whereby film is read as a relational medium, allowing for alternative subjectivities to emerge.

Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Enrica Maria Ferrara (ferrarae@tcd.ie) and Russell J. A. Kilbourn (rkilbourn@wlu.ca) by5 December 2021.Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be sent out to authors by30 December 2021.

The languages of the conference are English, Italian and Spanish

Proposals for virtual papers will not be considered.

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Panel 1: Critical Posthumanism and Italian Cinema and ...

Welcome to Posthumanism and Video Games. The purpose of this project, conducted by St. Olaf undergraduates Anthony Dungan and Israa Khalifa, is to examine how numerous video games interact with posthumanism and what audiences can learn about posthuman ideas through video games.

At its core, posthumanism is a theoretical framework that wants to re-imagine what a human is or rethink humanitys place in society. Some posthumanists want to remove humanity as the center of existence and want to every object in existence to be treated equally; others consider what existence on Earth would be like if humanity went completely extinct. Some challenge the boundaries of the human body and want to extend or augment those capabilities through cybernetics; others consider the personhood of completely artificial beings like androids or artificial intelligence. For a more nuanced definition and understanding, see our glossary entry on posthumanism.

The fact is, humanity is already becoming a posthuman society. Cybernetic bodies arent some far-off concept, but rather something that exists already. There are recent advancements like cybernetic and prosthetic limbs, as well as enhancements that have been around for decades, like hearing aids. Artificial life is making significant progress as well. In 2017, the first robot became a citizen of a country, and robots are becoming more physically capable. Imagining an existence without humanity might not be that hard, considering the threat that global warming poses to society means Earth might very well be literally posthuman within a few hundred years.

In addition, scientific knowledge and technological advancements are historically situated. Keeping this in mind allows for an understanding of Western cultures long history of individualism, technological warfare, and the binarism between body and soul. Posthumanism rejects that binary and allows for a fuller understanding of the Wests obsession with a human and technological apocalypse or a techno-utopian world. In addition, posthumanism breaks free from the patriarchal and supremacist legacy created by Christianity in the Enlightenment as well as favoring humans over other objects. These legacies of the Enlightenment are directly linked to systematic oppression, racism, slavery, and wars all over the world. Posthumanism, to an extent, allows for alternative solutions or ways of thought to break free from these problems.

We could say something about how games are the most profitable medium in the modern entertainment industry. We could also say that video games reach an incredibly large audience, or a number of other reasons. The fact is, we researched video games because the medium allows players to directly interact with ideologies in a safe space. Unlike audiences in other mediums like film, literature, or music, players directly interact with whats happening. They dont just see fancy technology, they use it. Players are active participants in the messages they create, which is something unique to the medium of games. As games are a relatively young medium, researching the medium helps establish a better understanding of how games engage audiences in unique ways.

With that in mind, please enjoy the results of our research! You can read our analyses in any order, but if you want to be directed to a good beginning spot, Id recommend our podcast episode, Embodiment in Transistor. If youre interested in making your own Thoughtful Play project, contact thoughtfulplay@gmail.com. You can check out our glossary here, and if you want to check our sources, head over here.

Anthony Dungan has been playing video games for almost longer than he can remember. It all started when his parents would let him watch them play Star Wars video games, and his obsession that started then has only become more rabid. Almost two decades later, Anthony has started mixing academic work into his love of video games. After watching a thoughtful, engaging presentation on The Last of Us by a professor from St. Olaf College, Anthony knew that he had to attend St. Olaf to improve his writing skills and hopefully have a chance to engage in academic work on video games. This wish was granted, and resulted in Posthumanism and Rhetoric in Video Games.

Israa Khalifa studies sociology and anthropology at St. Olaf College.

Read more here:

What is Posthumanism, and Why Should You Care ...

Dutch fashion designer

Iris van Herpen

van Herpen during the Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2012

Label(s)

Iris van Herpen (born June 5, 1984) is a Dutch fashion designer known for fusing technology with traditional haute couture[1] craftsmanship.[2] Van Herpen opened her own label Iris van Herpen in 2007. In 2011, the Dutch designer became a guest-member of the Parisian Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, part of the Fdration franaise de la couture.[3] Since then, Van Herpen has continuously exhibited her new collections at Paris Fashion Week.[4] Van Herpen's work has been included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

Iris van Herpen graduated from the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem in 2006[5] and interned at Alexander McQueen in London,[6] and Claudy Jongstra[7] in Amsterdam before launching her own label in 2007.[8] The Dutch designer debuted her first Couture collection 'Chemical Crows, at the 2007 Amsterdam Fashion Week.[9]

Van Herpen pioneered the use of 3D printing techniques applied to the world of fashion[10] and shown her first 3D-printed garment at the 2010 Amsterdam Fashion Week. The Crystallization top was inspired from the phase transition water undergoes when it crystallizes. The garment was 3D printed from white polyamide.[11]

Van Herpen's work can be described as interdisciplinary as she draws inspiration from professions outside of fashion and the arts. Therefore, the designer creates much of her work in collaboration with professionals working in fields of science, technology and architecture.[12] For example, her SS 2020 collection, Sensory Seas', drew inspiration from both marine ecology and the work of Spanish neuroanatomist Ramn y Cajal.[13] In 2010, Iris van Herpenundertook her first collaboration outside of fashion, when she collaborated with the Dutch architectural firm, Benthem Crouwel Architekten to create her Water Dress.[11]

Critics describe Iris van Herpen's work as both organic and innovative.[14] With New York Times journalist Vanessa Friedman stating: "It's not that she rejects the heritage of the couture, she just redefines it with modern tools. Once upon a time the sewing machine did the same.[15]

Van Herpen was one of the first designers to adopt 3D-printing as a garment construction technique.[7] Her design process utilises technologies such as rapid prototyping as one of the guiding principles in her work. Van Herpen is known for using radical materials such as dragon skin,[15] synthetic boat rigging or the whalebones of children's umbrellas.[14]

Since 2009, pop star Lady Gaga has worn Iris van Herpen's designs on several occasions. In 2012, Gaga wore a custom shiny black Couture dress for the launch of her perfume Fame. The shape of the perfume bottle served as the inspiration of the dress, which Van Herpen constructed from laser-cut strips of black acrylic.[2] Van Herpen has also made use of silicones, iron filings, and resin.[16]

Iris Van Herpen her designs can be described as a posthuman style. Posthuman style is derived from Posthumanism. Anneke Smelik explains how in the context of fashion, the posthuman is a figure of interconnection and mutual imbrication that transforms human subjectivity by making alliances with all kinds of non-humans. By merging art, fashion and technology, Iris van Herpen produces a posthuman style of in-between- ness, moving away from any kind of dualist binaries.With Posthumanism, humans are not the centre anymore, we are intertwined and at the same level with technology, non-binary things and non-human objects.[17] The earlier mentioned water dress is a great example of posthuman style. Posthumanism overcomes dualism and is more intertwined and interconnections between for example the biological and technological etc. The mentioned water dress is a great example of several interconnections. It is a creation between craftsmanship and technology, as it is made by 3D printing . Yet also between the organic, the water and inorganic, the polyamide. Another one is between fluidity and solidity, the water splash and the hard polyamide material. Most of her designs take inspiration from natural phenomenons which she combines with technologies like 3d printing. Like dreams, sound waves, wasps of smoke or magnetic fields. With these designs it not only becomes an in betweenness, the body becomes blurred; posthuman.

Because of van Herpen's multidisciplinary approach to creation, she has collaborated with various artists such as Jolan van der Wiel[18] and Neri Oxman[19] and architects such as Philip Beesley[20] and Benthem and Crouwel Architects.[21] The designer's interest in science and technology has led to ongoing conversations with CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research)[22] and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[23]

Further collaborations;

Visit link:

Iris van Herpen - Wikipedia

A conference on the theme Transdisciplinary approaches for societal change how different backgrounds come together to address wicked problems will be held in Malta on November 13 from 9am to 5.30pm. The conference, which is aimed at educators, researchers, artists, entrepreneurs and innovators, will conclude the four-year SciCulture project funded under the Erasmusplus programme.

The project is led by the University of Malta in partnership with Science View, Greece; the University of Exeter, UK; the University of Bergen, Norway; and Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.

Its aim was to nurture transdisciplinarity and innovative problem-solving through the blending of arts, science and entrepreneurship. The organisers said that during this last leg of the projects four-year journey, the conference will look at: what has emerged from the project participants attempts to respond to wicked problems; how innovative pedagogical approaches unified different backgrounds in the search for a common goal; and how design- thinking can support creativity and transdisciplinarity in an effort to go beyond individuality.

The conference will focus on three areas: 1) Collaboration, creativity and innovation in education; 2) Responsible research and innovation (RRI) in education and research; and 3) Posthumanism for problem-solving and innovative pedagogies.

The conference will consist of presentations by international keynote speakers, workshops and roundtables, and will offer participants the opportunity to network and discuss with other professionals from various fields. Participants will also have the opportunity to learn about SciCultures toolkit, which helps to integrate transdisciplinarity, design and creative pedagogies in courses. The project is supported by the European Commission and is funded under the EUs Erasmusplus programme. Participation in the conference is free but places are limited. Anyone interested in taking part is to register before October 29 via the link https://www.eventbrite.com/e/end-of-project-conference-tickets-171768593487.

For further details, visit the website below or the projects Facebook page.

http://www.sciculture.eu

Independent journalism costs money. Support Times of Malta for the price of a coffee.

The rest is here:

Using transdisciplinary approaches to find solutions to wicked problems - Times of Malta

In the exhibition Radical Austria Everything is Architecture, you will discover the mind-expanding, boundary-shifting and socially critical work of the Austrian avant garde in the 1960s and 70s. Members of this group did not allow themselves to be hemmed in by traditional design disciplines, preferring instead to create buildings, environments, objects, fashion, performances, furniture and even experiences. Radical Austria Everything is Architecture focuses on recent history with works that are even more topical and relevant today. The exhibition offers the first opportunity ever to experience the specific character of Austrias contribution to the international post-war avant garde in this way. It includes work by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co, Znd-Up, Walter Pichler, Valie Export, Hans Hollein, Angela Hareiter and Raimund Abraham. The exhibition is accompanied by a digital platform, The Third Floor.

Everything is architectureThe works, performances, installations, interventions, clothes, furniture, environments and architecture of groups like Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Znd-Up, and of individual designers and artists such as Walter Pichler (19362012), Hans Hollein (19342014), Raimund Abraham (19332010) and Valie Export (1940), are responses to societal and technological developments. Whether optimistically and playfully or ominously and critically, they teased out the consequences of these developments for the futurethe one in which we now live. What makes the Austrian avant garde unique is its fascination for the body and the way its designs often extended beyond the drawing board: almost everything was actually executed and can be seen in the exhibition. The designer Hans Hollein argued that everything is architecture, and with that notion in mind the featured designers gave concrete shape to their world-view in every imaginable discipline, from inflatable habitations to performances, fashion to furniture.

The body: departure and destination pointThe human body plays a central role in Radical Austria Everything is Architecture: as the vehicle of self-expression in performances, the subject of uncompromising experimentation and, not least, the physical departure and destination point of social, technological and spatial developments. We find it, for instance, in the suits and helmets of Coop Himmelb(l)au, wearers of which are exposed to shocking images, smells and pressure. The helmets and furniture designed by Haus-Rucker-Co are an expression of psychedelic mind-expansion, while those of Walter Pichler highlight the chilling and alienating effects of technology. Fashion and design too become battlefields for shifting views of sexuality in the work of Raimund Abraham and Znd-Up, amongst others. The feminist artist Valie Export commented caustically on the same theme, having men in the street touch her breasts in Tapp-und-Tast Kino.

PrecursorsThe lack of inhibition combined with analysis made the Austrian avant garde not only one of the most radical of the 1960s and 70s, but also the forerunner of many of the developments playing out today in the area of internet and mediavirtual reality, for instanceand that of Posthumanism, in which human beings are no longer central but are being subsumed into a larger environment, shaped by different technologies. Radical Austria Everything is Architecture shows how these developments were already being thought about critically in Austria in the 1960s and 70s and how this came to be reflected in fashion, design and architecture.

Practical informationThe exhibition takes place in Design Museum Den Bosch, in the Netherlands. It is on show until October 3, 2021. Book your tickets here. The exhibition is accompanied by a digital platform, The Third Floor, containing articles, videos, podcasts and background information pertaining to themes of the exhibition.

AcknowledgementsThis exhibition was made by Bart Lootsma with the assistance of Alexa Baumgartner and Maya Christodoulaki in cooperation with the University of Innsbruck. This exhibition is made possible due to the financial support of the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the Creative Industries Fund NL, the Austrian Bundesministerium fr Kunst, Kultur, ffentlichen Dienst und Sport and Stichting Zabawas.

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Radical Austria: Everything is Architecture - Announcements - E-Flux

DUBLIN An Evening of Art, Musicand Performance with the Hugh Lane Gallery

5-9.30pm; Hugh Lane Gallery, Parnell Square North, Dublin 1, 01-2225550, hughlane.ie; no booking requiredAn evening of art, music and performance inspired by modern and contemporary art through online and (subject to current guidelines) in-gallery activity, as well as opportunities to see the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Artists and performers include Asbestos, Felispeaks, Cora Venus Lunny, Teatro Sin Fin, Paul G Smyth, Sorca McGrath (Ships), Djackulate and Mabh Meir (Landless).

5-9pm; Fumbally Stables, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8, 01-5298732, facebook.com; no booking requiredThe Liberties Weavers are a community group dedicated to bringing weaving back to this part of Dublin, which used to be at the heart of Irelands textile production. Pop in to see and learn about various techniques, chat about weaving in the Liberties, and learn why there are no cows in Cow Parlour.

6.30-7.30pm; James Joyce Centre, 35 North Great Georges Street, Dublin 1, 01-8788547, jamesjoyce.ie; no booking required

Youre never too young to be introduced to one of the greatest books ever written. Through performance, song and storytelling, the James Joyce Centre will bring the child characters in Ulysses to life and explain the elements at the heart of the book: the importance of curiosity and learning to respect others; the trickiness of family relationships and love; and why everyone needs a place to call home.

5-9pm; National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square West, Dublin 2, 01-6615133, nationalgallery.ie; no booking required

The National Gallery goes global this year as it lights up its Merrion Square facade with the Drawing Project, in collaboration with the French embassy, featuring top international artists.

4-7.30pm; Bedford Lane, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, iconfactorydublin.com; no booking required

Responding to the poem Dublin by Louis MacNeice, this commission will see two live murals completed by Kevin Bohan and IIjin. Audiences can stroll by to watch the artists at work or join one of two street-art tours.

4-8pm; Rua Red Arts Centre, Tallaght, Dublin 24, 01-4515860; mothertongues.ie; no booking required

Rua Red, a contemporary art space, will temporarily host the touring Interactive Museum of Languages for young people. Children can join the team to play games and learn about the many cultures of Tallaght. Through artwork, sculptures and spaces, the exhibit encourages children to interact with different letters and alphabets across languages.

3-10pm; various venues, Cork city, 021-4901844, facebook.com; no booking required

Graft is a programme of public artworks across Cork city by five contemporary Irish artists. Featuring newly commissioned work by Vanessa Donoso Lopez, Adam Gibney, Brid Murphy, Seoidin OSullivan and Linda Quinlan, and curated by the Glucksman and the National Sculpture Factory, Graft explores the city as a site of inclusive and innovative artistic practices.

6-9pm; Ballyglunin station, Tuam, Co Galway, 087-9677732, eventbrite.com; free, booking requiredLive performances of zydeco music and an exhibition of art in all forms. Make your way to Ballyglunin station to see the Barcelo Brothers band, who will transport you away with their zydeco music, infused with R&B, reggae, soul and funk, and socially engaged musical poetry. The stations platform will host this years art exhibition, titled Amach Is Amach, from designers, sculptors, painters and performers from An Criu Collective.

6.30-7.15pm; Killarney House and Gardens, Killarney, 085-8017973, fanzini.ie; booking required

A circus tale of sibling rivalry, brotherly love and pogo sticks. The Fanzini Brothers, Guido and Ronaldo, have returned from Covid lockdown in Italy to their spiritual homeland of Kerry. Join them on Culture Nightas they share the joy of live performance in this homecoming celebration.

8-9:30pm; Muckross Traditional Farms, Muckross House, Killarney, muckross-house.ie; free, booking required

An evening of song and stories under the Muckross skies with John Spillane and band. John Spillane is a musician, songwriter, performer, storyteller and poet rooted in people, place and story.

4-9pm; De Bruir, Monasterevin Road, Kildare town, 087-6182290, debruir.com; no booking required

Leather atelier De Bruir welcomes visitors through its doors for a glimpse behind the scenes at the studio and view the collection of leather bags and accessories being handmade by Garvan de Bruir, and perhaps even try out some of the tools.

6-9pm; Butler Gallery Gardens, Evans Home, Johns Quay, Kilkenny city, 056-7761106, butlergallery.ie; no booking required

Butler Gallery celebrates Culture Night 2021 with a collection of music and dance from around the world. Maracatu Ilha Brilhante is an ensemble of percussionists, singers and performers from all four corners of Ireland, specialising in the beautiful songs and powerful rhythms of maracatu baque virado from Pernambuco, in Brazils northeast.

Farah Elle is a singer-songwriter whose music reveals the beauty in the ephemeral everyday. Farah has eclectic influences, including north African echoes from her Libyan heritage. The South Sudanese Song and Dance Troupe will entertain guests with traditional larakaraka music and dance of the Acholi people. Dance is a central part of Acholi cultural heritage and the group will use Culture Night to introduce this distinctive art form to Irish audiences.

9.15-10.30pm; Dunamaise Arts Centre, Church Street, Portlaoise, 057-866 3355, dunamaise.ie; free, booking required

This quartet of creative folk musicians shape melodies from past and present into something dynamic, from the gentle to the rhythmical.The event will showcase Nasc, the new album from Co Clare musicians Tara Breen and Pdraig Rynne, who have been performing regularly since 2009; 2020 offered them the perfect opportunity to enter the studio with long-time collaborators Dnal Lunny and Jim Murray.

Various venues, limerick.ie

Limerick city will host a number of outdoor cultural hubs where audiences can prebook into live music-, literature-, art- and food-themed evenings, set in some of the citys cultural outdoor spaces. The Milk Market, The Hunt Museum and King Johns Castle will all open their doors for the evening. You can take a self-guided tour of Limerick street art, take an audio tour of the poetry town, Adare, explore the work of contemporary visual artists in shop windows, navigate the human geography of the citys laneways with a podcast or seek out new street installations for young and old across the countys towns.

6-8pm; St Helenas Park, Dundalk, 042-9385745, creativespark.ie; no booking required

Keep an eye out for the Creative Sparks new print bike in St Helenas Park, where a bicycle has been transformed into a portable printing press. Anyone who goes to see the bicycle can create a free screen-printed tote bag.

6pm-7pm and 8pm-9pm; Glenisland National School, Barnastang, Castlebar, 083-1003427, eventbrite.ie; free, booking requiredIn this interactive Irish music workshop everyone even beginners will get the chance to play the bodhrn along to famous Irish songs. Suitable for all ages.

6.30-8.30pm; Outside Custom House Studios, The Quay, Westport, 087-7633257,customhousestudios.ie; no booking requiredA performance featuring newly composed music and poems interlaced with older songs and poetry. The Moynihan siblings will join forces with poet Ger Reidy to explore the themes of inclusion, human rights and diversity, which have been a constant in the music and spoken traditions of Ireland.

9pm-11:30pm; Loughnaneane Park, Roscommon town, 090-6637321, roscommonartscentre.ie; free, booking required

Emma Brennans film At the Castle will be projected on to the walls of the atmospheric ruins of Roscommon Castle, portraying a new dance piece performed and choreographed by contemporary dance artist Mintesinot Wolde. Live dance and music performances will also take place on the night, both on the castle grounds and at the amphitheatre of the adjoining Loughnaneane Park. Visuals and lighting will be projected on the walls by Algorithm Productions from dusk until midnight, enabling passers-by to view the projections and lighting spectacle after the live shows.Childrens

4.30-8pm; King House, Military Road, Knocknashee, 071-9663242, visitkinghouse.ie; free, booking required

Artists Naomi Draper and Kate Wilson were commissioned to enhance the experience of King House, in Boyle, for younger visitors, culminating in the creation of the cat and mouse treasure hunt.

8-9:30pm; Presentation Arts Centre, Convent Road, Enniscorthy, 053-9233000, presentationcentre.ie; free, booking requiredA night of cabaret-style performance, spoken word, experimental theatre and alternative drag performance with multimedia artist Kitsch Doom. Kitsch is inspired by theories on gender, sociology and posthumanism.

7.30-8.30pm; Bray bandstand, Bray seafront, eventbrite.com; free, booking requiredAs part of Poetry Town, there will be an outdoor hour-long performance of poetry and music on the Culture Night stage in Bray. The night will feature performances by strong female voices in poetry and spoken word, including Bray poetry town laureateKayssie K and the poets Jane Clarke and Nell Regan, plus music by singer-songwriter Amy Barrett. The town poem written for Bray by Kayssie K will be unveiled at this event.

Excerpt from:

Culture Night 2021: 21 events to catch on Friday, right around Ireland - The Irish Times

Olafur Eliasson, Life (detail), 2021, water, uranine, UV lights, wood, plastic sheet, cameras, kaleidoscopes, common duckweed, dwarf water lilies, European frogbit, European water clover, floating fern, red root floater, shellflower, South American frogbit, water caltrop. Installation view, Fondation Beyeler, Basel. Photo: Pati Grabowicz.

THIS YEAR, to much publicity, Olafur Eliasson flooded part of Basels Fondation Beyeler, arguably the most significant private museum in Switzerland. The south-facing glass wall was removed so that the installation could be accessed from the lawn by humans, bats, ducks, insects, or whatever other life-forms happened to be passing by. Gangways were installed just above the waters surface so that bipedal visitors could walk through the southern gallery. The paths constituted a kind of labyrinth, leading through the rooms and back out to the grounds. The water was dyed with uranine, a bright-green biodegradable pigment. The ceiling carried a massive battery of fluorescent tubes that cast an even wall of ultraviolet light straight down on the water, causing the dye to luminesce.

We arrived after closing time. The garden was dark but luxurious, heavy with early-summer growth. Brought out by the first really warm night of the year, people gathered in small groups to walk down to the glowing rectangular pool. Illuminated against the darkness, the visitors were on display, the ultraviolet light making their clothes and teeth fluoresce. The clusters of Pistia stratiotes, or water lettuce, drifting on the aqueous surface were reduced by the strong backlight to abstract outlines, beautiful asterisks. I surreptitiously reached down to touch one and felt the furry, water-repelling leaf that enables it to float.

The distribution of floating plants and the title of the installation, Life, both recalled the Game of Life, the cellular automaton devised by the mathematician John Horton Conway to test how quickly emergent properties appear in simplified systems. That game has only four rules, iteratively applied, that determine which cells will be alive on each turn and which will be dead. Emergent properties, Conway discovered, appear very quickly indeed. Even in the hypersimplistic universe of the game, it is possible to create complex oscillating systems, gardens that grow or crumble or that expand in perpetuity; likewise, the water lettuce, one of the great weeds of the tropical world, will spread in its pond. The analogy cuts both ways. The screen on which this review is typed, and quite possibly read, is made legible by twisted nematics, common organic molecules that change their shape in electromagnetic fields to be either transparent or opaque. The glowing pond is a liquid-crystal display; your screen shares characteristics with a living membrane. The installation owed, in short, as much to screen aesthetics as it did to the classic signifiers of environmentalism, and in so doing took a step toward severing the romantic association between environmentalism and phenomenological experience. That Eliasson, or somebody on his team, knows this was implied by the digital side of the installation: a series of sophisticated webcams that mimicked the perceptual apparatus of nonhuman observers, allowing you to watch a livestream of the installation through the compound eye of a blowfly, among other creatures.

The installation owed, in short, as much to screen aesthetics as it did to the classic signifiers of environmentalism.

The next day, I returned to the pond. Rather than glowing like a vast LCD screen, as it had the night before, the few inches of water provided a murky veil for the museum floor. In the daylight, the installation very closely resembled its predecessors. Some years before The Weather Project at Londons Tate Modern made him internationally famous, Eliasson had flooded the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria for The mediated motion, 2001, and added uranine to six waterways around the world to create his Green River series, 19982001. Then, the language invoked was that of phenomenology, of presence.

Studio Olafur Eliasson has a long history of smuggling art theory into the business of artmaking itself, vertically integrating its own machinery for commentary. Now, however, the keywords have changed. Entanglement, natureculture, the Planthroposcene (an aspirational corrective to the human-centric Anthropocene), and so on all featured on the Beyelers website. The removal of the windows of the museums was described, in the parlance of our times, as an act of care. . . . Aesthetic critique is in any case redundant in an exhibition that promotes intraspecies equality. Perhaps more interesting were the projects potential legal ramifications. As architect Jakob Walter pointed out in our conversation, if bats actually took up residence in the Beyeler and started to breed, provisions for the protection of endangered species would have kicked in, and it might have been difficult to evict them to reinstall the permanent collection of Giacomettis and Picassos. It is in this scenario that the theatrics of interspecies rights and posthumanism would actually have been something to grab popcorn over. A legal fight between a family of bats and the estate of Ernst Beyeler might, however, have revealed that the show was not really about dismantling the nature/culture divide, but, as is always the case in the history of institutions, about the will of the dead versus the hunger of the living.

Adam Jasper is a researcher at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (GTA) at ETH Zurich and edits the journal GTA Papers.

Excerpt from:

Adam Jasper on Olafur Eliasson at the Fondation Beyeler - Artforum

MARIA BARANOVA-SUZUKI

Simon Dinnerstein in The Eye Is the First Circle.

The always adventurous Peak Performance series offering shows in the fields of dance, music, theater, visual art, acrobatics and film, often with elements of two or more of these moved its ambitious programming online during the pandemic. But it will return to live performances, at the Kasser Theater at Montclair State University, in October, and present a combination of live and online offerings for its 2021-22 season.

Here are the live shows, with quotes taken from the Peak Performances web site, peakperfs.org:

Oct. 14-17: The Eye Is the First Circle, conceived, directed and performed by Simone Dinnerstein. World premiere. The pianist, whose father Simon Dinnerstein is a painter, deconstructs and collages elements of her fathers acclaimed The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives Piano Sonata No. 2 (Concord Sonata).

Nov. 4-7: Look Whos Coming to Dinner, by Stefanie Batten Bland/Company SBB. United States premiere. Inspired by the 1967 film of the same name, this work represents performance at the intersection of dance-theater and installation, questioning contemporary and historical cultural symbolism and the complexities of human relationships.

Dec. 16-19: Fractales, by Cie Libertivore, written and choreographed by Fanny Soriano. The language of the circus and dance movement highlight the physical potential of the acrobatic body as performers are confronted by a landscape in transformation.

February (dates TBA): Strange Fruit, by Donald Byrd/Spectrum Dance Theater. This dance/theater work draws its title from the classic song written by Abel Meeropol and made into a Civil Rights anthem by Billie Holiday. In it, the facts of lynching act as springboards into a highly personal interior space and state of mind.

March (dates TBA): Movement, by Netta Yerushalmy. World premiere. As in Paramodernities, one of Yerushalmys previous works, existing dances are again quoted (this time from a vast array of sources) and pieced together into an intricate and elaborate quilt with radical and surprising results.

CAMILLA GREENWELL

Members of Gandini Juggling.

April (dates TBA): Smashed2, by Gandini Juggling. A sequel to Smashed, which Peak Performances presented in its United States premiere in 2018. Director Sean Gandini and Kati Yla-Hokkala borrow elements of Pina Bauschs gestural choreography and combine them with the intricate patterns and cascades of solo and ensemble juggling. (see video below)

May (dates TBA): Hotel Paradiso, by Familie Flz. United States premiere. Using clowning, acrobatics, magic, and improvisation, Familie Flz makes its highly anticipated U.S. debut after delighting European audiences for more than 20 years with captivating theatrical experiences.

June (dates TBA): Curriculum II, by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. World premiere. Originally commissioned as a film project but reimaged as a live performance, with the focal point coming from Louis Chude-Sokeis treatise The Sound of Culture: Diaspora and Black Technopoetics, which explores the connection between race and technology from minstrelsy, music production, cybernetics, to artificial intelligence and posthumanism.

Peak Performances online series, Peak Plus, is currently offering free streams of works by the Heidi Latsky Dance Company, the Richard Alston Dance Company, Gandini Juggling, Double Edge Theatre and more, and additional streams will be added during the season, starting with Elevator Repair Services Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, a play based on a debate on The American Dream that took place at Cambridge University Union in 1965 between novelist and activist James Baldwin and writer and pundit William F. Buckley Jr.

CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET

Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the states arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of $20, or any other amount, to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.

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Peak Performances will be as adventurous as ever in its 2021-22 season - njarts.net

A post-apocalyptic world where humankind has exhausted the planet's natural resources and aneco learning centre and biodiversity garden are included in Dezeen's latest school show by students at the University of Huddersfield.

Also included is a project that examines how virtual and augmented reality promise to change urban space experience and anotherexplores how Hull might recover if submerged underwater.

School: University of Huddersfield, School of Art, Design and ArchitectureCourses:BA(Hons) Architecture RIBA Part 1 and Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2Tutors: Caterina Benincasa-Sharman, Jonathan Bush, Hilary Chadwick, Nic Clear, Ioanni Delsante, Danilo Di Mascio, Yun Gao, Amir Gohar, Danilo Gomes, Alex Griffin, Spyros Kaprinis, Bea Martin-Gomes, Hyun Jun Park, Adrian Pitts, Vijay Taheem and Hazem Ziada.

School statement:

"The journey through the school's architecture programmes nurtures a student's aspirations in dialogue with crucial contemporary issues, particularly environmental and technological change. By developing their skills and knowledge, their learning experiences shape a professional with transformative skills and visions.

"In BA Arch, culture, context and place frame the scope and inspiration for students' architectural propositions. The programme engages remote, non-western cultures stimulating students to respond to unfamiliar cultural contexts (such as Kunming, China) with propositions both appropriate and visionary.

"The M Arch programme challenges students to reimagine alternative futures and transformative environments. Here, students probe visions for the posthuman condition supported by science fiction, explore futurist technologies of fabrication and visualisation, and/or develop substitutes to capitalist exchange.

"The School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Huddersfield, offers the full suite of RIBA-validated programmes: BA(Hons) Architecture RIBA Part 1, Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2, and Professional Practice and Management in Architecture RIBA Part 3, along with the MA Advanced Architectural Design, BSc Architecture Technology, and programmes in construction project management."

Making Genus | Exploring Gender Roles Within Utopian Societies by Dariana Nistor

"Viewing the world through a gendered lens creates a hierarchical structure founded on binary terms, entrenching power structures and default identity expectations.

"Such social thresholds prescribe the built environment and how it operates. Concerned with the social and architectural implications of living in a post-gender world, 'Making Genus' is an experimental project rooted in utopian feminist science-fiction.

"It critically assesses the gendered status quo and proposes speculative alternatives. Located in the North Sea and taking the form of a utopian island, the project's architectural language transcends the conventional rigidity of the built environment, proposing a lexis infused with utopian dreams, environmental consciousness, social equality and kinship."

Student: Dariana NistorCourse: Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2Tutors: Nic Clear and Hyun Jun ParkEmail: nistordariana[at]gmail.com

Typological Hybridity | The Integrated Urban Stadium by Jordan Halliday

"A speculative deconstruction of the typology of stadia utilising constructs of hybridity to reimagine the future stadium, beyond mono functionality, as an adaptive venue orientated towards urban socioeconomic processes.

"Stoke-on-Trent is a city with poor socioeconomic conditions limiting future growth. Building on the city's rich industrial heritage, the project proposes a hybrid stadium at the hub of a regional advanced ceramics network, encompassing a ceramic factory, technical college, and sports centre while also uniting disjointed residential communities along an axial route towards the train station.

"Internally, vertical spatial arrangements engender cross experiences among the hybrid sub typologies. Besides their complexity dependent configurations, modularised accommodations enable adaptive responses to live urban conditions, whether a specific event or longer-term socio-economic adjustments."

Student: Jordan HallidayCourse: Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2Tutors: Ioanni Delsante and Hazem ZiadaEmail: jordan.halliday[at]aol.com

The Huddersfield Virtual Blueprint by Adam Ownsworth

"In 2019, Kirklees Council launched 'The Huddersfield Blueprint', a 'ten-year vision' to 'create a thriving, modern-day town centre, to address the noticeable decline in retail, business and tourism within Huddersfield's town centre. However, the council's plans remain unambitious and not future-proof.

"Virtual and augmented reality promise to change urban space experience. The Huddersfield Virtual Blueprint critically complements Kirklees Council's strategy. The project explores how the installation of powerful, real-time virtual and augmented reality technologies offer consumers interactive and unique experiences for their town centre visit.

"The Virtual Blueprint has no limits and will generate an exciting, unique USP for Huddersfield, thrusting it into the technological forefront and setting a precedent for cities awaiting the inevitable transition."

Student: Adam OwnsworthCourse: Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2Tutors: Nic Clear and Hyun Jun ParkEmail: adamownsworth[at]outlook.com

Dirtbag Cathedral by Rebecca Jane Smith

"The Dirtbag Cathedral is a speculative project, combining philosophical posthumanism, rock climbing and notation. The proposed structure provides space where the posthuman subject can experience the extreme bodily act of climbing.

"Dirtbag Cathedral is an axiomatic structure, neither building nor landscape yet both sculpture and architectural structure. It is a sculptural-architectural hybrid.

"The thesis highlights the challenges of representing phenomenological experiences through two-dimensional drawings and the posthuman means of communicating such experiences.

"The human species' journey through the 'philosophical cartography' of the Posthuman state has directly impacted the environment. In a world in which posthumans possess advanced collective consciousness that every object is equal, the Dirtbag Cathedral acts as a memoir of the human."

Student: Rebecca Jane SmithCourse: Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2Tutors: Nic Clear and Hyun Jun ParkEmail: becca.smith96[at]hotmail.co.uk

New Life, Neo Hull by Yu Min Teoh

"Architecture as a living archipelago in Hull: a new home and hope to save wildlife, restoring and rewilding them after flooding. An artificial 3D-printed modular self-grows from the estuary bottom upwards through years of tuning and monitoring.

"It uses a composite material: a ceramics-coral cell mimicking coral-reef growth that extracts carbon and nutrition from seawater to self-grow and self-repair into a strong structure. Nanotechnology boosts the sprouting structure far faster than average reef growth.

"The underwater foundation will attract the local marine ecology and juvenile coral. Above water, the ground level mimics different habitats for rewilding and attracts visitors to grow Hull's new economy. The upper-floor level shelters nesting birds, while the top-level monorail facilitates travel across the island and connects it to the mainland."

Student: Yu Min TeohCourse: Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2Tutors: Nic Clear and Hyun Jun ParkEmail: 427.yumin[at]gmail.com

Recovering Submerged City | Commons Of Community Value by Kamila Kudlata

"In a worst-case scenario of global warming in coming decades, where floods become more persistent and recurrent, Hull will be submerged. This project formulates a governance model addressing this environmental crisis, building on the ongoing devaluation of land and incoming flood water as resources for a new commons.

"Living with water is an opportunity for the recovery of a submerged city. It explores the use of underground spaces in devalued sites for public use and the occupation of air space with private living spaces. The project presents Queen's Gardens as an advanced technology hub that optimises the use of floodwater for energy generation and water-sufficiency filtered using nanotechnology. It becomes a pilot site for other Hull neighbourhoods and serves the surrounding region."

Student: Kamila KudlataCourse: Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2Tutors: Ioanni Delsante and Hazem ZiadaEmail: kamila_kudlata[at]hotmail.com

Perceptions of Sublimity by Wajid Khan

"The project explores our perceptions of the sublime encounter in a post-apocalyptic world, a future where humankind has exhausted the planet's natural resources.

"Drawing on cognitive science and science fiction, the thesis explores the sublime, its modern-day representation and its catastrophic future equivalent.

"The project is positioned between the legible and illegible, between reading and un-reading. It considers the relationship between humans and intrigue, catastrophe and the sublime, or rather the sublimity of a cataclysmic event; in other words, the seduction of Armageddon.

"Hidden within the unconscious, there is an insatiable desire for the unknown. The desire to journey beyond the sensible given, towards the oncoming storm, and the dread of night."

Student: Wajid KhanCourse: Master of Architecture RIBA Part 2Tutors: Nic Clear and Hyun Jun ParkEmail: wajiidkhan[at]gmail.com

Eco Learning Centre and Biodiversity Garden by Fidelia Florentia

"Kunming is known as the 'City of Perpetual Spring' and famous for its biodiversity. The site is located in the 'Wenming Block', one of two remaining heritage blocks where Confucius Temple sits.

"The Eco Learning Centre and Biodiversity Garden are concentrated in the idea of harmony, hierarchy and symmetry inspired by Fengshui and Chinese architecture.

"With the main design goals to promote biodiversity, preserve history and attract visitors. There are five separate buildings: a game pavilion to play mahjong, an outdoor theatre for taichi and dance, a library, a cafe, and a museum."

Student: Fidelia FlorentiaCourse: BA(Hons) Architecture RIBA Part 1Tutors: Hilary Chadwick, Yun Gao, Danilo Gomes, Spyros Kaprinis, Bea Martin-Gomes and Vijay Taheem.Email: fideliaflorentia[at]yahoo.co.id

Haiyang Village Aquatic Heritage Centre by Alex Costea

"Located at the Southern edge of Haiyan Village, the project proposes a cultural heritage centre that will explore the region's history while teaching locals and tourists alike the importance of Dian Lake.

"As a response to the clean water scarcity in the village and the surrounding region, a water purification plant was integrated into the design.

"The proposal is built around the five water basins, each representing a stage of the water purification process; their scale contributed to the dramatic entrance, enriched by the interior courtyard and the double-height atrium behind the reception."

Student: Alex CosteaCourse: BA(Hons) Architecture RIBA Part 1Tutors: Hilary Chadwick, Yun Gao, Danilo Gomes, Spyros Kaprinis, Bea Martin-Gomes and Vijay TaheemEmail: acostea249[at]gmail.com

Wulong Village Cultural Heritage Centre by Adriana Negrila

"Located at the heart of the Wulong village, the Cultural Heritage Centre welcomes its visitors into an open space, dictated by a game of light and shadow, vertical circulation and fluid atmosphere.

"The interior spatial arrangement is divided by a ramp that leads the guests to the underground level, where controlled artificial light transforms the exhibitions into walk-through, interactive art installations.

"The ancient 'shadow trickery' Chinese technique has been used to produce a transcendental experience, taking the visitors back in time, being paired with sounds, perfumes and fluctuating temperatures."

Student: Adriana NegrilaCourse: BA(Hons) Architecture RIBA Part 1Tutors: Hilary Chadwick, Yun Gao, Danilo Gomes, Spyros Kaprinis, Bea Martin-Gomes and Vijay TaheemEmail: anegrila54[at]yahoo.com

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and The University of Huddersfield. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

Continued here:

University of Huddersfield presents 10 projects that respond to unfamiliar cultural contexts - Dezeen