This is the first skeleton draft of my study statement, as a skeleton goes it has some sizeable bones missing. I’ve been continually editing this but I’ve stopped now and made a new duplicate document to work on for submission in February.
Title : Speculative Identities – AI, VR and AR and its Intersectionality with Climate Chaos, Queer theory, Gender Identity and Ableism.
Aims and Objectives:
My aim is to Save the Earth.
I aim to develop new knowledge and affect change through the interplay of ironic materiality, social rendition and emerging technologies through my active research as a Contemporary Dadaist. Climate Chaos is an existential and cataclysmic complex issue that needs unconventional, creative thinking to jumpstart real-world solutions, and it needs it now.
The geo-political climate crisis and its resulting global warming is THE most pressing issue of our time (except for the potentially instant warming provided by an 800-kiloton nuclear warhead, which may be an issue at the moment, but I can’t solve everything.)
I came to UAL to gain a platform, and develop skills and create opportunities.
With my experience in filmmaking, animation, and performance, I create thought-provoking work that challenges societal norms and conventions. Drawing inspiration from my diverse background as an airline pilot, radical home educator, tattooist, and artist, I seek to reflect on these experiences and explore how the virtual world can serve as a platform for reimagining new positions.I am interested in delving into online communities and examining the internet’s transformative potential along with its descendants, AI, VR, and AR as the catalysts for change. I firmly believe that emerging technologies can be transformational, capable of pushing boundaries and establishing a new framework that positively impacts the well-being of all individuals and the healing of the planet. By leveraging the reach and accessibility of these perspectives, I aim to challenge societal norms, foster inclusivity, and create a space where new solutions can thrive.
I intend to ignite conversations, provoke critical thinking, and contribute to a more inclusive and empowered society by embracing the virtual world and harnessing its potential combined with the decision-making of countering ableist culture and plasticity of thought celebrated by the Queer social lived experience. I want to challenge the real-life inaction that shows the impotent body politic of the post-industrial revolution is innate, not learnt.
By contrast Queer social action has demonstrated that perspicacity is learnt and not innate. Those behaviours are often coded through cultural and media misrepresentation, by using arts equipoise, we allow the virtual world to glitch the established systems to give space to codify a new identity for the planet.
I want to explore the following areas:
AI, VR, and Augmented Reality: immersive technologies
The genie cannot be put back in its bottle, thank gawd, and these technologies will change our lives and may hold some of the answers to sorting out the mess of climate destruction.
AI, or artificial intelligence: the ability of machines to ‘simulate’ human intelligence, including decision-making and problem-solving, remembering AI doesn’t have skin in the game, which can be both a blessing and a curse when making difficult decisions.
VR, or virtual reality: creates a simulated digital environment that immerses users in a computer-generated world.
AR, or augmented reality: overlays digital information or virtual objects onto the real world.
When combined, these technologies can provide intelligent and context-aware information, enhancing the user’s perception and understanding of the real world. AI algorithms can analyse the user’s surroundings, recognise objects or people, and provide relevant and personalised information or assistance in real time.
A synergy that is immersive and interactive, revolutionising communication. It has the potential to transform the way we learn, communicate, work, and interact with our environment, opening up our understanding of new positions for innovation and advancement.
By combining AI with VR, the communication experience can become more personalised and responsive to individual users, adapting to their preferences, behaviours, and even emotions.
When combined with both VR and AR, AI can enhance the overall experience by providing intelligent and adaptive interactions within the virtual or augmented environment.
Ableism: negotiating difficult situations and decisions.
Increased awareness: ways to counteract biases and prejudices, which can be crucial when making challenging decisions.
Empathy and perspective-taking: fostering empathy and perspective-taking towards individuals and the unique challenges and needs they may face.
Ethical considerations: fairness, justice, and equality need a deeper understanding of the ethical implications of the tough decisions that will have to be made.
Informed decision-making: real-world experience of ableism, rights, and needs of people, not just a sweeping generalised one-size-fits-all.
Advocacy and support: valuable when making difficult decisions that will have a significant impact on the lives of individuals, enabling more inclusive and equitable outcomes.
Queer Theory and Gender Identity: challenging and transforming societal norms and power structures.
Intersectionality: Queer theory and gender identity emphasise the importance of intersectionality, recognising that individuals hold multiple identities and face intersecting forms of oppression. Applying this lens to climate change helps us understand the transitional thinking that will be needed and the ability to join up sometimes conflicting arguments.
Deconstructing binaries: Queer theory challenges the rigid binary. This plasticity helps break down the false dichotomy between humans and nature, recognising that we are interconnected and dependent on the natural world. By challenging these binaries, we can foster a more holistic and sustainable approach to addressing climate change.
Challenging heteronormativity: Heterocentric, white, western privilege is the most significant driver of geo-political conditions that have caused climate change. Queer theory critiques normativity and promotes diverse and inclusive perspectives, leading to more innovative and inclusive solutions, as well as challenging the dominant narratives that perpetuate unsustainable practices.
Empowering marginalised voices: Queer theory and gender identity explores the importance of amplifying marginalised voices and experiences. By centring the voices of individuals in climate discussions, we can ensure that their unique perspectives and knowledge are considered, leading to more comprehensive and equitable climate policies and initiatives.
Resisting and reimagining systems: Oppressive systems will never give freely a solution to climate change. They are stuck within a cycle of dominant economics, with a political apparatus that perpetuates environmental degradation. Reflection includes questioning the extractive and exploitative practices contributing to climate change and envisioning alternative ways of organising society that prioritise sustainability and justice.
Objectives: The steps I am taking.
- Be present in the understanding of emerging technology. This is ongoing, weekly and sometimes daily.
- Taking part in the discussion of ethical standards within emerging technologies. Working with the Feminest Internet Studio.
- Aligning emerging technologies within Queer theory and Gender exploration, as above.
- Look at decision making through the lens of life experiences of Ableism. Sadly this is a daily lived experience for me.
- Physically render the intersectionality of the body politic of climate drivers with an exploration of my individual body. Through making and writing.
Success or failure of my project can be assessed rather brutally:
Success is an impacted future, an abstraction of chaos theory in a deterministic nonlinear system…
…failure none of it will matter anyway… Extinction Level Event.
Context: Contemporary and Theoretical Contexts
Historical: I see several significant events in modern history that give historical context.
The Italian Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the root cause of climate change the industrial revolution and capitalism. I may find more as this list has no doubt a ocularcentric bias.
The harm of colonialism is real, pervasive and seeming everlasting as white male Silicon Valley’s signature heteronormativity besmirches AI.
How I address this within my research without being overwhelmed with data might be solved by using pattern recognition and prompt engineering with an online AI model. However, because AI is already biased, it and my bias will have to be checked through a quite hefty critical thinking lens.
Contemporary and Theoretical: Current Queer theory, gender identity and the body politic. Emerging technologies AI, VR and AR. Social media.
Context of the medium or technology in which you work: I am an interdisciplinary Dadaist, working in animation, writing, performance, workshops, and social media. I have also developed a nasty meditation habit with gel plate printing.
Contemporary artists and their work that relates to my field of investigation:
Refik Anadol
Marina Abramovic
But this is not what I want..
• awareness of the field in which you are working
• distinct feature which will make it potentially original
• form the basis of links with other research work to which you will contribute or on which you will build.
Methodology:
I write, I blog, I sketchbook, I make without making, trying to use up existing resources,
consider… see STUFF
I love a checklist…
The theory drives the practical experimentation, the practical experimentation feeds into and creates the theory, which drives the practical experimentation…it becomes an infinity mirror without end…until the end…
Outcomes:
I have a series of experiments to undertake, there will be installation, performance and funnelled digital happening…
Work Plan: TBA
This next 2 weeks get ready for London and the CCI workshop.
Look at starting gel prints of my body parts in relation to Hu Cow.
Make boob cast.
Bibliography:
Bruno, G.A. (2021) ‘For the Love of Metaphysics: Nihilism and the Conflict of Reason from Kant to Rosenzweig, by Karin Nisenbaum,’ Mind, 131(522), pp. 733–742. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzab026.
Edelman, L. (2004) No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. http://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/900/No-FutureQueer-Theory-and-the-Death-Drive.
feminismiehitaja (2012) Valie Export Society ‘Touch Cinema.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8RQSXwELJ0.
Getsy, D. (2016) Queer. Documents of Contemporary Art.
In Free Fall: A thought experiment on Vertical Perspective – Journal #24 (no date). https://www.e-flux.com/journal/24/67860/in-free-fall-a-thought-experiment-on-vertical-perspective/.
Jay, M. (1988) ‘The rise of hermeneutics and the crisis of ocularcentrism,’ Poetics Today, 9(2), p. 307. https://doi.org/10.2307/1772691.
Klipphahn-Karge, M, Koster, A, & Morais, DSBS (eds) 2023, Queer Reflections on AI : Uncertain Intelligences, Taylor & Francis Group, Milton. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [3 December 2023].
Moeggenberg, Z.C. and Walton, R. (2019) ‘How queer theory can inform design thinking pedagogy,’ SIGDOC ’19: Proceedings of the 37th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication, pp. 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1145/3328020.3353924.
Ng, K. (2020) ‘Hegel’s Speculative Identity thesis,’ in Oxford University Press eBooks, pp. 65–122. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190947613.003.0003.
Russell, L. (2020) Glitch Feminism : a manifesto. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL28676106M/Glitch_Feminism.
Watch Cow (2021) on MUBI (1998). https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/cow-2021.
Mx.D.P 
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