In this workshop, we will be studying selected new materialist texts and works of art regarding non-human life, nature and matter in this digital era which also intersects with Anthropocene discussion starting from the beginning of 2000s to better confront the growing 'uncertainty' 'unintelligibility' of non human agency. Plant studies of Natasha Myer, the conception of nature in Staicy Alaimo's queer ecology and nature-culture entanglement in the bio-art works of Marta de Menezes will be discussed within the scope of the larger new materialist, post-human queer-feminist theoretical contributions. The workshop will include a theoretical part to discuss the place of Nature, Matter and Body in Queer theory with a special emphasis on new materialist critics of Judith Butler's conception of body and performativity. Queer feminist theorists like Stacy Alaimo provide us with valuable tools to reconsider our conception of nature, body and matter in the post-digital world we live in which is gradually more construed around the tendency of dematerialization. Yet, recent discussions on Anthropocene and the growing interest towards developing a political ecology to cope with ramped up uncertainties of a world afflicted with climate change, and unforeseen viral activities point towards the requirement to re-materialize our ties with the earth. The theoretical part of the workshop will thus give us a chance to reconsider what nature, matter and body signify in in the post-digital world with a special emphasis on Natasha Myer's """"becoming sensor"""" project, Stacy Alaimo's queer ecologies and Marta de Menezes' bioart. It will also include an artistic-practical part where the participants will be instructed to practice Natasha Myer's Sensing Botanical Sensoria: A Kriya For Cultivating Your Inner Plant.
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