Title : Speculative Identities
Examining the solutions for Climate Mindfulness through the lens of Gender Identity and its Intersectionality with Climate Chaos, Queer theory, Ableism and Emerging Technologies
Aims and Objectives…
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 Change 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.
My diverse life experiences and travels as an airline pilot, my time exploring wild and high places on the planet feed into my practice, I am a global artist…
I delve into online communities, examining the internet’s transformative potential along with its relations, AI and emerging technologies as the catalysts for change alongside developing a mycelium-like network of artists and those that can advocate a Queer response to problem solving.
I believe that used for good 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. A recent example of this is AI coming up with a new form of lithium battery. (Padavic-Callaghan, 2024)
AI’s ability to crunch huge amounts of data while flow thinking new solutions makes it an astonishingly useful research assistant, but it is a biased one.
By leveraging the reach and accessibility of new perspectives through art, 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.
Glitch the established systems
The Objectives…
Forging a mycelium like art network…
THE NETWORK
Aligning emerging technologies with Art, Queer theory and Gender exploration.
Taking part in the discussion of ethical standards within emerging technologies, working with groups like the Feminist Internet Studio.
Be present in the understanding of emerging technology. This is ongoing, weekly and sometimes daily.
Looking 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.
The Context...
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 simulating digital environment that immerses users in a computer-generated world.
AR, or augmented reality
Overlays digital information or virtual objects onto the real world.
Emerging 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.
Collectively, these technologies can provide a context-aware environment that enables the user to understand a different view of the real world. It can be argued that for Gen Z and future generations, the virtual world is the real world or as important as any ‘lived’ experience.
In a world about to be ravaged by climate chaos and transformed beyond all recognition, the virtual world might provide a sanctuary of mindfulness in a way that the first art galleries soothed the desolate souls of the Industrial Revolution.
Emerging tech algorithms can analyse the user’s surroundings, recognise objects or people, and provide relevant and personalised information or assistance in real time that is immersive and interactive. This could revolutionise how art communicates with the audience; we see that gamification with social media platforms.
The potential to transform opens up our understanding of new positions for innovation and advancement. During the Feminist Internet Workshop, we discussed how gaming art activists were able to send out accurate protest information by writing code that was later assembled into a game to be distributed around the world.
Ableism: negotiating difficult situations and decisions.
Empathy and perspective-taking: fostering kindness and understanding towards individuals and the unique challenges and needs they may face.
Boosted awareness: ways to counteract biases and prejudices, which can be crucial when making challenging decisions.
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 me understand the transitional thinking that will be needed and the ability to join up sometimes conflicting arguments.
Representing: By using the non-binary pride flag colours and #nonbinary in posting, I represent! This is activism for visibility.
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.
Success or failure of my project can be assessed rather brutally:
Success is an impacted future
…failure none of it will matter anyway… Extinction Level Event…
Context: Contemporary and Theoretical Contexts
Historical:
I see the intersection of Climate Change, Emerging Technologies and Gender Identity to have several parallels in modern history that gives historical context.
The Italian Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the root cause of climate change the Industrial Revolution and its soul mate Capitalism.
This list has no doubt an 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; that’s what Big Tech wants us to believe. However, because AI is already biased, it and my bias will have to be checked through a hefty critical thinking lens
Contemporary and Theoretical: Current Queer theory, gender identity and the body politic. Emerging technologies AI, VR and AR. Social media will be my artistic playground.
Context of the medium or technology in which you work: I am an Interdisciplinary Contemporary Dadaist, investigating the new frontier of the Anthropocene, working with kindness and humour in adult animation, writing, performance, workshops, social media and emerging technologies … exploring the boundaries of Contemporary Ironic Materiality…
I have also developed a nasty meditation habit with gel plate painting/printing/making…
Contemporary artists and their work that relates to my field of investigation:
All Artists… All artists/creatives are important and we need to NETWORK to be part of the Change…
WE ARE THE CHANGE
Don’t tell anyone, but my current fetish is the breathtakingly barmy Jenkin-van-Zyl. I was delighted to see them appear in the Monday art lecture. More about their work on my blog post. Their human assemblage mirrors my virtual character collective in my animated world.
They are one of us!
I’ve put a couple of droll internet references to non-binary artists in the bibliography. I have done so to demonstrate the ‘chaser’ mentality of journalism and society in general towards trans people. I believe that all non-binary artists use their identity as artistic and creative space (sweeping assumptions there, Dee), but that IS the beauty of Queerdiagnostics; it renders flexibility and sweeping camp statements without blushing…
An incredible artist I’d like to work with is Claye Bowler, whose honest exploration of top surgery for FtoM transition Top at the Henry Moore Institute, October 2022 – January 2023, put the focus on our underrepresented trans community.
Bowler’s work delves into exploring the trans body as an archive for the trans experience that is often subject to society’s erasure of Queer narratives.
The deletion of lived experience and the denial of gender is ‘normal’. As I approach 60, I am still not allowed to be non-binary on my driving licence or passport, and I may die having never officially lived legally as my true self. Can the human race turn its face away from the truth… can it keep destroying the planet in wilful ignorance… you bet it can! Denial is strong in our species.
Is someone working in my field (climate focus)…
I bloody hope so!
Each year, I see more and more artists explore the only real narrative left for humanity; there will soon be nothing else. Global warming is not climate change; it is climate chaos, it is instability, it is drought, famine, fire, floods, mass migration and war…
Does any of the existing art look like my work… I doubt it… I haven’t seen any; there may be a good reason, as only a lunatic would try to see humour in the darkest of times…
I interviewed an emerging painting talent today, Toby Wills-Hart, for my interview series. I take my interviewee’s words and paint a Contemporary Dada sound and visual picture; it forms part of THE NETWORK. Wills-Hart’s painting deliberately provides a portal of escape, a moment of relief from the existential. In contrast, mine is the opposite; I subconsciously entreat you to think.
Both ends of the spectrum are needed as are all along it.… as no one, even with the dirtiest of laconic humour, can deal with survival horror all the time.
My visual inspiration is my childhood heroes, Grange Calveley and Bob Godfrey’s Roobarb and Custard, but they are still not my adult animation.
My true Contemporary Bodhisattva
is likely Legacy Russell and their written call to ‘Glitch’ the system.
Glitch is an obvious metaphor, but Russell takes a different approach by embracing the significance of ‘error’ and subverting the negative. They recognise that errors within a social system that is already disrupted by economic, racial, social, sexual, and cultural inequalities, as well as the destructive force of globalisation that perpetuates violence against all individuals, may not be errors but rather opportunities for necessary corrections. This Glitch serves as a treatment for the ‘machine’ and represents a positive departure from the hideous mess society/the planet finds itself in.
My Ride or Die Artists are:
Chantal Akerman 1950-2015 (Belgian) Filmmaker. I aspire to her composition and her fearless exploration of the difficult, but not the length of her films.
Janet Cardiff 1957 – (Canadian) Master of sound and story… I want my sound to matter and take you on a journey that takes up space in your subconscious as I distract you with absurd coded images. Cardiff distracts, not in the same way as I, but they inspire me to take my own path.
Robert Downey Sr. 1936 -2021 (American) New York 60’s art house filmmaker… I want my animation to exist in that ridiculous, drug-filled happening… Just without needing the drugs.
I work in…
I work in Layers
Therefore, my admiration for Frank Auerbach 1931- (German) is unbound. I look forward to seeing the exhibition at The Courtauld of his Charcoal Heads when I go to London in March.
I thought I might be inspired by Hannah Höch 1889-1931 (German), and I am in terms of my sketchbook practice, and that slice of the kitchen knife turns up in the boob cast and in the gel-plate printing. But it is Tristan Tzara 1896-1963 (Romanian) who I desire to be re-incarnated from… I don’t empirically know if Tzare would turn up at CSM with a ‘packer’, a fake moustache and a set of cow ears riding a disability scooter disguised as a transgender bull, but I’d wager good money that he might!
I am a self-styled Contemporary Dadaist; this is obviously not Dada or even Neo-Dada…, but rather a reaction to the absurd nature of the Anthropocene…
What its manifesto will be, I don’t know because I haven’t written it yet… but it will contain
THE NETWORK
Methodology:
Climate Mindfulness – Nothing Else Matters Now
I am working with Clem Crosby UAL Academic Support to look at establishing a presentation or workshop to examine eco-mindfulness to counteract the issues of climate anxiety within the artist community and wider afield.
I network… THE NETWORK
I write (including vast note taking) I blog, I sketchbook, I make without making, trying to use up my existing resources.
The poem I wrote at the start of 2023 for the film STUFF (2023) is still relevant to my art practice… but my practice has developed and changed its focus and identity… my gender identity has provided a new lens… I only clearly saw that when Linett Kamala in the Thursday session asked what is the one constant through your life that has been an influence…
My gender struggle… that truth slowly emerged in the first two semesters of my MA, but like ground rush it hit…
…it hit… hard and fast…
The theory drives the practical experimentation, and 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… Making for installations.
Performances.
Funnelled digital and physical happenings.
The ironic humour of adult animation.
The creation of the mycelium-like art network (Artists, Creatives, Humans, Non-humans) …
THE NETWORK
Work Plan:
This is a 2 year plan Short/Medium/Long Term within that framework. It is absolutely and essentially subject to change!
X-pect the un X-pected!
I will grasp every opportunity and make every physical and virtual connection I bodily can.
I am on a Trans-Mission…
Bibliography:
Babbs, V. and Babbs, V. (2024) ‘6 Non-Binary & Transgender Artists We Love – TheArtGorgeous,’ TheArtGorgeous – Media group with a fresh and entertaining perspective on the art world, making it accessible and fun for everyone., 3 January. https://theartgorgeous.com/6-non-binary-transgender-artists-we-love/.
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.
Claye Bowler: ToP | Henry Moore Institute (no date). https://henry-moore.org/whats-on/claye-bowler-top/.
Davies, R. (2023) Three non-binary artists discuss their artistic practice. https://feeld.co/magazine/people/three-non-binary-artists-discuss-their-artistic-practice.
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.
Gaunt, W. (1964) A Concise history of English painting. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA56379410.
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.
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.
Monbiot, G. (2022) ‘George Monbiot: ‘On a vegan planet, Britain could feed 200 million people,’’ The Guardian, 13 May. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/may/13/george-monbiot-vegan-planet-britain-farming-fuel-plant-based-food.
Monbiot, G. (2022) Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet. Penguin UK.
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.
Padavic-Callaghan, K. (2024) ‘AI comes up with battery design that uses 70 per cent less lithium,’ New Scientist, 9 January. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2411374-ai-comes-up-with-battery-design-that-uses-70-per-cent-less-lithium/.
Roobarb – The Complete Collection (1974) : Grange Calveley and Bob Godfrey : free download, borrow, and streaming : Internet Archive (1974). https://archive.org/details/roobarb-the-complete-collection-1974.
Russell, L. (2020) Glitch Feminism : a manifesto. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL28676106M/Glitch_Feminism.
Synthesis Report — IPCC (2023). https://www.ipcc.ch/ar6-syr/.
Tate (no date) Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms | Tate. https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/yayoi-kusama-infinity-mirror-rooms/exhibition-guide.
TEDx Talks (2019) Carnival as a force for healing | Linett Kamala | TEDxLadbrokeGrove. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDZ9KikwIrc.
Watch Cow (2021) on MUBI (1998). https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/cow-2021.
Wills-Hart Toby | New Blood Art (no date). https://newbloodart.com/artist/toby-wills-hart.
Mx.D.P 
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