<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Hi all,<div><div>It’s been incredible receiving the messages this month on the great artists who have died, but who have carved out cultural space for emerging <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">queer/sick/disabled artists</span> like myself. Their exploration of the body, sexuality, pain, care, pleasure, and sickness are deep references for artists in my contemporary disability/queer arts communities. </div><div><br></div><div>In that spirit I’d like to share and invite folks to two shows I have work in among other <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">queer/sick/disabled artists I have work in a show at NYU Gallatin that is up <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" dir="ltr" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" style="text-decoration-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.258824);">through tomorrow</a>, and tonight is the closing reception from 6-8pm. <a href="https://wp.nyu.edu/gallatingalleries/upcoming-shows/crip-imponderabilia/">https://wp.nyu.edu/gallatingalleries/upcoming-shows/crip-imponderabilia/</a></span></div><div><br></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And I have work in a show opening next week in Long Island city at an art space called Flux Factory <a href="http://www.fluxfactory.org/event/talk-back/">http://www.fluxfactory.org/event/talk-back/</a> from May 9- <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://5" dir="ltr" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" style="text-decoration-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.258824);">through June 2.</a> If you might be able to make it to either/both I’d love to hear your thoughts, you’re all giving me so much to reflect on empyre thinkers! Hope all is well, and please feel free to connect further.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Best,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ezra </span></div><div><a href="http://www.ezrabenus.com/">http://www.ezrabenus.com/</a></div><div><br><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr"><br>On Mar 31, 2019, at 10:46 PM, Sarah Watson <<a href="mailto:sarahawatson@gmail.com">sarahawatson@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><span>----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------</span><br><span>As we close out the month of March on –empyre–, I want to express my</span><br><span>gratitude to all of our guests who have participated over the last</span><br><span>four weeks and to my co-moderator, Lola Martinez. Thank you all so</span><br><span>much for sharing your work and for providing such valuable insights.</span><br><span>Since we did not have all of our guests and weekly themes flushed out</span><br><span>when we introduced the topic of Refiguring the Future at beginning of</span><br><span>the month, below is a recap that includes the weekly topics and guest</span><br><span>bios.</span><br><span></span><br><span>I want to end by pausing on Francesca’s post and her discussion of</span><br><span>recent events “happening ‘outside’ art - that is, if we think that</span><br><span>there is an inside and outside to art.” Moving beyond a siloed idea of</span><br><span>art and an inside and outside, her post makes clear that in our</span><br><span>current moment there is a great necessitate to think and do towards</span><br><span>refiguring the future. As Francesca states at the end of her post,</span><br><span>“So, to return to where I started from, in thinking about these events</span><br><span>over the past 2 weeks I have no words about art or collective art</span><br><span>practices, but I sense that these events, and what flows from them -</span><br><span>socially, politically, imaginatively - will seep into and inflect</span><br><span>thinking and writing and making, both personal and collective</span><br><span>projects. For there is no separation between art and life, it's the</span><br><span>same thing.”</span><br><span></span><br><span>With gratitude,</span><br><span></span><br><span>Sarah</span><br><span></span><br><span>Sarah Watson</span><br><span>Director of Exhibitions & Chief Curator</span><br><span>Hunter College Art Galleries, New York</span><br><span></span><br><span>–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––</span><br><span>March 2019</span><br><span>“Refiguring the Future”</span><br><span></span><br><span>Week 1: Exhibition as Ecosystem</span><br><span>Guests: Heather Dewey-Hagborg (US) and Dorothy R. Santos (US),</span><br><span>co-curators of “Refiguring the Future”</span><br><span></span><br><span>Week 2: In/Visibility feature</span><br><span>Guests: Ezra Benus (US), Anneli Goeller (US), Yidan Zeng (曽一丹) (US)</span><br><span></span><br><span>Week 3: Hackability of the body</span><br><span>Guests: Lee Blalock (US), Kathy High (US), Camilla Mørk Røstvik (UK)</span><br><span></span><br><span>Week 4: Collectivity and World-building</span><br><span>Guests: Emmy Catedral (US); Sofía Córdova (US); Shirin Fahimi (CA); In</span><br><span>Her Interior (Virginia Barratt (AUS) and Francesca da Rimini (AUS));</span><br><span>PJ GUBATINA POLICARPIO (US); and Addie Wagenknecht (US, AT)</span><br><span></span><br><span>Guest Bios:</span><br><span>EZRA BENUS studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem, the</span><br><span>University of Amsterdam, and graduated with a degree in Studio Art</span><br><span>(honors) and Jewish Studies at CUNY Hunter College. Benus was an Erich</span><br><span>Fromm Fellow at Paideia Institute in Stockholm, and is currently the</span><br><span>Access and Adult Learning Fellow at the Brooklyn Museum. He has spoken</span><br><span>publicly about his art practice and disability arts activism at venues</span><br><span>such as CUE Art Foundation, York College, and Princeton University. He</span><br><span>has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally at a number</span><br><span>of venues, including Jerusalem, Stockholm, New York, Dayton, and</span><br><span>Calgary.</span><br><span></span><br><span>LEE BLALOCK is a Chicago-based artist and educator who</span><br><span>presentsalternative and hyphenated states of being through</span><br><span>technology-mediated processes. Inspired by science fiction, futurism,</span><br><span>and technology, her work is an exercise in body modification by way of</span><br><span>amplified behavior or "change-of-state." Blalock also works under the</span><br><span>moniker L[3]^2, whose most recent live work embraces noise and fissure</span><br><span>as a natural state of being for bodies living in the information age.</span><br><span>Superimposing custom module-based "Instr/augment" systems (what the</span><br><span>artist calls “sy5z3ns”) onto performers, L[3]^2 creates conditions for</span><br><span>meditation through generative and repetitive behavior. Blalock is an</span><br><span>Assistant Professor in the Art and Technology Studies Department at</span><br><span>the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She holds an MFA from the</span><br><span>School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BS from Spelman College,</span><br><span>Atlanta.</span><br><span></span><br><span>EMMY CATEDRAL (US) was born in Butuan and raised in Butuan and Iloilo</span><br><span>City, Philippines before immigrating to New York City at the age</span><br><span>often. She is an artist and writer working in performance and</span><br><span>installation with things made with paper, including books. Catedral</span><br><span>presents collaborative projects as The Explorers Club of Enrique de</span><br><span>Malacca, and The Amateur Astronomers Society of Voorhees and she also</span><br><span>presents work as Y2K (with Carlos Rigau and Jocelyn Spaar).She is</span><br><span>co-founder, with PJ Gubatina Policarpio, of the Pilipinx American</span><br><span>Library, which recently completed summer residencies at Wendy's</span><br><span>Subway, Brooklyn, and the Asian Art Museum, SF.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Born in 1985 in Carolina, Puerto Rico and currently based in Oakland,</span><br><span>California, SOFIA CORDOVA's (US) work considers sci-fi and futurity,</span><br><span>dance and music culture(s), the internet, mystical things, extinction</span><br><span>and mutation, migration, and climate change under the conditions of</span><br><span>late capitalism and its technologies. She first moved to the US to</span><br><span>attend the early college program at Simon's Rock College of Bard in</span><br><span>Great Barrington, Massachusetts. She completed her BFA at St. John’s</span><br><span>University in conjunction with the International Center for</span><br><span>Photography in New York City in 2006. In 2010 She received her MFA</span><br><span>from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She has</span><br><span>exhibited and performed at SFMOMA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts,</span><br><span>the Berkeley Art Museum, the Arizona State University Museum, the</span><br><span>Vincent Price Museum, and other venues internationally such as Art Hub</span><br><span>in Shanghai and the MEWO Kunsthalle in Germany. She is one half of the</span><br><span>music duo, XUXA SANTAMARIA. In addition to discrete projects,</span><br><span>performances, and albums the duo collectively scores all of her video</span><br><span>and performance work.</span><br><span></span><br><span>DR. HEATHER DEWEY-HAGBORG is a transdisciplinary artist and educator</span><br><span>who is interested in art as research and critical practice. Her</span><br><span>controversial biopolitical art practice includes the project Stranger</span><br><span>Visions in which she created portrait sculptures from analyses of</span><br><span>genetic material (hair, cigarette butts, chewed up gum) collected in</span><br><span>public places. Heather has shown work internationally at events and</span><br><span>venues including the World Economic Forum, the Daejeon Biennale, the</span><br><span>Guangzhou Triennial, and the Shenzhen Urbanism and Architecture</span><br><span>Biennale, the Van Abbemuseum, Transmediale and PS1 MOMA. Her work is</span><br><span>held in public collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Victoria and</span><br><span>Albert Museum, and the New York Historical Society, among others, and</span><br><span>has been widely discussed in the media, from the New York Times and</span><br><span>the BBC to Art Forum and Wired. Heather has a PhD in Electronic Arts</span><br><span>from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.</span><br><span></span><br><span>SHIRIN FAHIMI (CA) is a Toronto based visual artist, born and raised</span><br><span>in Iran, working across the mediums of video, installation and</span><br><span>performance. She is also a co-founder of Taklif: تکلیف , an imaginary</span><br><span>space and a traveling library for radical imaginations. She received</span><br><span>her BA from Slade School of Fine Art (University College London) and</span><br><span>her MFA from Concordia University. Practicing with diagrams and</span><br><span>archival materials, Shirin’s current research is concerned with the</span><br><span>performative aspect of Sihr (magic) and divination in Islamic culture</span><br><span>as a source of politico-aesthetic transformation, empowerment, and</span><br><span>identification.</span><br><span></span><br><span>ANNELI GOELLER is an artist who uses 3D simulation and artificial</span><br><span>intelligence to speculate that the creation of algorithmic selves</span><br><span>expands the concept of personhood. They have been exhibited</span><br><span>internationally at institutions such as the Sheila C. Johnson Design</span><br><span>Center in New York, Peripheral Forms in Portland, Lithium Gallery in</span><br><span>Chicago as well as the Palazzo dei Cartelloni in Florence. In virtual</span><br><span>space their work has been featured in The Wrong - New Digital Art</span><br><span>Biennale and The Universal Sea. They are currently a MFA candidate in</span><br><span>Film, Video, New Media, Animation at the School of the Art Institute</span><br><span>of Chicago.</span><br><span></span><br><span>PJ GUBATINA POLICARPIO (US) is an educator, curator, and community</span><br><span>organizer. He designs spaces for critical and thoughtful interactions</span><br><span>between communities, artists, and art. Born in the Philippines, PJ</span><br><span>works between New York and San Francisco; the Lenape and Ohlone</span><br><span>homelands. You can learn more about his work at <a href="http://pjpolicarpio.net">pjpolicarpio.net</a>. He</span><br><span>is co-founder, with Emmy Catedral, of the Pilipinx American Library.</span><br><span></span><br><span>KATHY HIGH is an interdisciplinary artist working in the areas of</span><br><span>technology, science, speculative fiction and art. She produces videos</span><br><span>and installations posing queer and feminist inquiries into areas of</span><br><span>medicine/bio-science, and animal/interspecies collaborations. She</span><br><span>hosts bio/ecology+art workshops and is creating an urban nature center</span><br><span>in North Troy (NATURE Lab) with media organization The Sanctuary for</span><br><span>Independent Media. High is Professor of Video and New Media in the</span><br><span>Department of Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. She</span><br><span>teaches documentary and experimental digital video production, history</span><br><span>and theory, as well as biological arts.</span><br><span></span><br><span>In Her Interior (VIRGINIA BARRATT and FRANCESCA DA RIMINI) (AUS):</span><br><span>Formed in 2015, IHI co-creates and performs live works of spoken,</span><br><span>sung, and recorded text and video within site-specific installation</span><br><span>environments. As two of the four co-founders of cyber-feminist group</span><br><span>VNS Matrix (est. 1991), da Rimini and Barratt have contributed to</span><br><span>critiques of gender and technology for over three decades. In 2016, on</span><br><span>the occasion of the 25th anniversary of VNS Matrix’s A Cyberfeminist</span><br><span>Manifesto for the 21st Century, the group wrote and performed a new</span><br><span>text, titled “A Tender Hex for the Anthropocene,” and curated a</span><br><span>special section on affective labor for Runway magazine. Virginia</span><br><span>Barratt is a writer and performer based in the Northern Rivers region</span><br><span>of NSW, Australia. She is writing a PhD at Western Sydney University</span><br><span>in the Writing and Society Research Centre. Francesca da Rimini is an</span><br><span>artist, researcher and makes work using various media including text,</span><br><span>video, and computers.</span><br><span></span><br><span>DR. CAMILLA MØRK RØSTVIK is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the</span><br><span>School of Art History at the University of St Andrews. She works on</span><br><span>the visual culture and institutional power structures of menstruation</span><br><span>from 1970s to the present day.</span><br><span></span><br><span>DOROTHY R. SANTOS is a Filipinx American writer, curator, and</span><br><span>researcher whose academic interests include digital art, computational</span><br><span>media, and biotechnology. Born and raised in San Francisco,</span><br><span>California, she holds Bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Psychology</span><br><span>from the University of San Francisco and received her Master’s degree</span><br><span>in Visual and Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts.</span><br><span>She is currently a Ph.D. student in Film and Digital Media at the</span><br><span>University of California, Santa Cruz as a Eugene V. Cota-Robles</span><br><span>fellow. Her work appears in art21, Art Practical, Rhizome,</span><br><span>Hyperallergic, Ars Technica, Vice Motherboard, and SF MOMA’s Open Space.</span><br><span></span><br><span>ADDIE WAGENKNECHT (US, AT) is a co-founder of both REFRESH and Deep</span><br><span>Lab. Her work explores the tension between expression and technology.</span><br><span>She seeks to blend conceptual work with forms of hacking and</span><br><span>sculpture. Previous exhibitions include MuseumsQuartier Wien, Vienna,</span><br><span>Austria; La Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, France; The Istanbul Modern;</span><br><span>Whitechapel Gallery, London and MU, Eindhoven, Netherlands. In 2016</span><br><span>she collaborated with Chanel and I-D magazine as part of their Sixth</span><br><span>Sense series and in 2017 her work was acquired by the Whitney Museum</span><br><span>for American Art.</span><br><span></span><br><span>YIDAN ZENG (曽一丹) is an intimacy investigator currently</span><br><span>wandering/wondering through New York. She uses fabric, movement, and</span><br><span>touch to explore multi-sensual forms for connection. She's been a</span><br><span>Digital Accessibility Fellow with Lincoln Center for the Performing</span><br><span>Arts (2017), a Create Change Fellow with The Laundromat Project</span><br><span>(2018), a visiting glass artist at The University of Hawai'i in Mānoa</span><br><span>(2018), and a recipient of the Queens Arts Intervention Grant (2019).</span><br><span>She’s also half of a performance duo, Os&En, and has performed in</span><br><span>Miami, Providence, and on and off the streets of NYC. Yidan received</span><br><span>her BA and BFA from the Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program in Computer</span><br><span>Science and Glass.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Moderator Bios:</span><br><span>LOLA MARTINEZ is a Cuban-American curator and researcher working at</span><br><span>the intersection of art and technology. Recent curatorial projects</span><br><span>include the Refiguring the Future Conference, Kaye Playhouse and</span><br><span>Knockdown Center, NY (2019), los contenedores (no) son mejores vacíos,</span><br><span>WXBC and The Hessel Museum of Art, NY (2017), aCCeSsions, Knockdown</span><br><span>Center (2017), We are the Margins, P! and Beverly’s, NY (2017),</span><br><span>amongst others. Their current research project, Tropical Hardware</span><br><span>focuses on the geopolitics of sub-tropical and tropical zones to trace</span><br><span>how perceptions of tropicality are reconfigured by the development and</span><br><span>implementation of digital media and technology. Martinez is the</span><br><span>inaugural Eyebeam/REFRESH Curatorial and Engagement Fellow and holds a</span><br><span>M.A. from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.</span><br><span></span><br><span>SARAH WATSON is Director of Exhibitions & Chief Curator of the Hunter</span><br><span>College Art Galleries. Focusing primarily on time-based work including</span><br><span>sound, video, performance, and poetry, Watson’s curatorial projects</span><br><span>center on creating experimental sites for education, collaboration,</span><br><span>and action. Recent exhibitions include Acts of Art and Rebuttal in</span><br><span>1971 and The School of Survival: Learning with Juan Downey. In</span><br><span>addition to overseeing the exhibitions and programming of the Hunter</span><br><span>College Art Galleries, Watson runs the gallery component of the</span><br><span>Advanced Certificate in Curatorial Studies at Hunter College. Watson</span><br><span>holds an M.A. in Art History from Hunter College.</span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span>On Sun, Mar 31, 2019 at 2:35 PM <<a href="mailto:dollyoko@thing.net">dollyoko@thing.net</a>> wrote:</span><br><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Thank you Sarah and Lola for inviting us to contribute to the discussion</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>on Empyre this month. It's been inspiring to read first-hand what artists</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>are doing, and why. And the questions that emerge for them, in the process</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>of bringing together poetics and liberatory politics.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>In this period I find that I cannot write about art and art-making, and</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>perhaps it might be that too much is happening "outside" art - that is, if</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>we think that there is an inside and outside to art.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>On Friday 15th March there was a global Climate Strike by a reported 1.6</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>million students. In Australia around 150,000 young people (and their</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>supporters) took to the streets in cities, towns and villages around the</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>country. About 3,000 of them were in Adelaide, my hometown, and the vibe</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>and determination to do what they could - collectively - globally - to</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>"refigure the future" was palpable, exhilarating.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/support-us">https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/support-us</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Different from, but sharing a trajectory with, the 15th February 2003</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>global day of protest against the looming war in Iraq. As we know, the</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>latter protest did not halt the imminent war, but it was a critical</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>mobilisation of all sorts of bodies and beings, and an instantiation of</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>"power from below".</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>In the context of the Empyre discussion it's worth noting that this</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>massive coalescing of energies of young people comes from the seed of a</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>very simple 1-person weekly protest by the then 15-year old Greta Thunberg</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>(who self-describes as having been diagnosed with "Asperger syndrome, OCD</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>and selective mutism").</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/greta_thunberg_school_strike_for_climate_save_the_world_by_changing_the_rules/transcript?language=en">https://www.ted.com/talks/greta_thunberg_school_strike_for_climate_save_the_world_by_changing_the_rules/transcript?language=en</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>But also on 15th March a devastating event happened in Aotearoa (New</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Zealand) which has affected many in the Australasian region - the</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>slaughter of 50 Muslim men, women and children at prayer in 2 mosques in</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Christchurch. It was an act of terror. The perpetrator is Australian who</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>live-streamed the shooting. His use of various social media platforms,</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>prior to and during the murders, is the subject of an insightful analysis</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>by Luke Munn, who says that from a seamless slipping between platforms</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>(8chan, Youtube, Twitter, Gab, etc) emerges "a kind of algorithmic hate —</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>a constellation of loosely connected digital media, experienced over</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>years, that constructs an algorithmically averaged enemy."</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="http://networkcultures.org/blog/2019/03/19/luke-munn-algorithmic-hate-brenton-tarrant-and-the-dark-social-web/">http://networkcultures.org/blog/2019/03/19/luke-munn-algorithmic-hate-brenton-tarrant-and-the-dark-social-web/</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>But from this violence around Aotearoa/NZ people have come together in</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>solidarity with the bereaved, embodying, literally in some instances (see</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>link of students performing traditional Maori haka for their murdered</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>classmates), the Prime Minister Jacinda Arden's words "They are us."</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUq8Uq_QKJo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUq8Uq_QKJo</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>... So, to return to where I started from, in thinking about these events</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>over the past 2 weeks I have no words about art or collective art</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>practices, but I sense that these events, and what flows from them -</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>socially, politically, imaginatively - will seep into and inflect thinking</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>and writing and making, both personal and collective projects. For there</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>is no separation between art and life, it's the same thing.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>warmly, to all</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Francesca da Rimini</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------Week Four:</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>COLLECTIVITY + WORLD-BUILDING</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>Guests: Emmy Catedral (US); Sofía Córdova (US); Shirin Fahimi (CA); In</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>Her Interior (Virginia Barratt (AUS) and Francesca da Rimini (AUS));</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>PJ GUBATINA POLICARPIO (US); and Addie Wagenknecht (US, AT).</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>I want to thank everyone who has participated so far this month and</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>invite you all to continue these conversations over the next week as</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>we wrap up this month’s topic on “Refiguring the Future.” The work you</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>all do is important and I am sure your posts have stimulated questions</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>and thoughts from other guests as well as –empyre– readers.</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>The exhibition “Refiguring the Future” closes this Sunday, March 31 and</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>this is also my and Lola's last week hosting –empyre–. As both of</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>these things move towards a conclusion, I have been thinking a lot</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>about collectivity and world-building. Collaborative practice and</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>doing with others plays a central role in “Refiguring the Future” both</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>in the work of several artists in the exhibition, but also as part of</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>the larger ethos of what it might mean to “refigure” or “reimagine”</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>our future. As we proposed in the introduction to this month’s topic,</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>“what possibilities arise when accelerating technologies are paused</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>and world-building is privileged anew?” Adding to that, what lessons can</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>we learn from previous collective and community building models? And what</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>frameworks are needed to support and sustain equitable and inclusive</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>communal platforms today?</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>Our guests this week engage in collaborative practices and in a</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>liberatory, world-building politic. I am looking forward to learning</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>more about their work and approaches to collectivity. I welcome</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>Virginia Barratt (AUS) and Francesca da Rimini (AUS), who form the</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>artist collective In Her Interior; Emmy Catedral (US) and PJ GUBATINA</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>POLICARPIO (US), co-founders of P A L / Pilipinx American Library;</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>Sofía Córdova (US), half of the music duo, XUXA SANTAMARIA; Shirin</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>Fahimi (CA), founder of Taklif: تکلیف; and Addie Wagenknecht (US, AT),</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span>co-founder of REFRESH and Deep Lab.</span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>_______________________________________________</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>empyre forum</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="mailto:empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a></span><br></blockquote><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>empyre forum</span><br><span><a href="mailto:empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a></span><br><span><a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a></span></div></blockquote></div></div></body></html>