SomoS Arts presents from Tuesday, 15. October 2024 Casting a Spell in Computational Regimes: Ritual Practices for a Transfeminist Counter-Apocalypse, a collaboration with curator Arianna Forte. The exhibition and series of events is part of Forte’s ongoing curatorial research project supported by the Italian Council. This interdisciplinary exploration looks at the intersections of digital technology, ritual practices and transfeminist resistance.
Image above: Casting a spell, courtesy SomoS Arts
SomoS Arts announces a collaboration with curator Arianna Forte: “Casting a Spell in Computational Regimes: Ritual Practices for a Trans-Feminist Counter-Apocalypse” is an exhibition and event exploring the intersection of digital technologies, ritual practices and trans-feminist resistance. The project, supported by the Italian Council, looks at contemporary rituals that challenge systemic inequalities and crises of our time.
Based on the work of Italian anthropologist Ernesto De Martino and philosopher Johanna Zylinska, the exhibition explores ritual practices that are directed against digital capitalism, patriarchal structures and ecological collapse. Through a transfeminist lens, it proposes alternative narratives of care and connection.
Contributors: Megan Broadmeadow (UK), Martina Carabone (IT), Ella Chedburn (UK), Crawlers (Jess Cockerill (AU) & Lyndsey Walsh (US) ), Dasha Ilina (RU), Ella Hebendanz (DE) & Pamela Varela (MX), WhiteFeather Hunter (CA) & Elizabeth Littlejohn (CA), Alessandro Longo (REINCANTAMENTO) (IT), Identity_runners (Diane Ludin (US), Agnese Trocchi (IT), Francesca da Rimini (AU) ) Lucile Olympe Haute (FR) Institute of Diagram Studies (IE), Ginevra Petrozzi (IT), Theemetra Harizani (GR)
Exhibition:
Sigil Séance Against Space Billionaires: Installation by Lucile Olympe Haute & Institute of Diagram Studies
Mooncalf Homuncularium: Joint Film by WhiteFeather Hunter and Elizabeth Littlejohn
POV: Time To Influence Your Targeted Ads: Installation by Ginevra Petrozzi
Advice Well Taken: Video Installation by Dasha Ilina
Spirit Dog 360: VR Experience by Ella Chedburn
Dewiniaet: Interactive Art Installation by Megan Broadmeadow
re-c(O)unting: Film by Ella Hebendanz und Pamela Varela
HEXE> Open Sorcery Poetry Program: Installation by Identity_runners (Diane Ludin, Agnese Trocchi and Francesca da Rimini)
Program:
Saturday, 12. October, 6-7 pm:
Opening event
7.30 pm:
Introductory speech by Arianna Forte
Sigil Séance Against Space Billionaires – Artist talk by Lucile Olympe Haute
Re-Enchanting the World? – Artist talk by Alessandro Longo as part of REINCANTAMENTO
Tuesday, 15. October, 4 pm:
Portals to Summon Web Chaos
Workshop by Crawlers (Lyndsey Walsh and Jess Cockerill)
Thursday, 17. October, 5 pm:
Spells for Beginners: Summoning a Ghost Database
Performative Lesung by Theemetra Harizani
Saturday, 19. October, 5 pm:
Jeno
Multimedia Performance by Martina Carbone
About Arianna Forte:
Arianna Forte is a curator of contemporary art with a focus on digital culture and transfeminist theory. Her curatorial practice creates platforms for critical discourse and innovative artistic expressions that challenge conventional narratives and address pressing social issues, and her current research focuses on the connections between contemporary rituals, activism and magical materialism. She has curated several exhibitions on media art, biohacking, data and computer technology, with a focus on social engagement.
Mitwirkende:
Megan Broadmeadow (UK)
Megan Broadmeadow is a UK-based artist whose work bridges speculative fiction, science fiction and religious experience. Broadmeadow uses visual, spatial and digital media to explore the gaps between knowledge and belief. Drawing heavily from the aesthetics of science fiction cinema and illustration, she creates art that questions our understanding of reality, psychological states and the intersections between scientific fact and mythical stories.
Martina Carabone (IT)
An Italian artist whose practice focuses on the gestures of the female body in combination with sound. Martina Carabone explores Mediterranean rituals and their connection to contemporary life in order to break down marginalizing structures and open up new spaces for action. Her research captures the vibrant power of female rituals, both ancient and modern, to create a field of emancipation for women in contemporary society.
Ella Chedburn (UK)
Ella Chedburn is a multidisciplinary artist from Bristol, England, who combines nature, technology and mysticism in her work. Her art focuses on reimagining the relationship between the organic and digital worlds and achieving harmony between nature and modern life.
Dasha Ilina (RU)
The Russian-born artist uses low-tech and DIY approaches to question society’s dependence on modern technology. Dasha’s practice encourages public engagement and creates spaces for critical thinking about self-care, privacy and the urge to use technology as a solution to all problems. Her work is a critique of the way technology dominates our personal and collective lives.
Identity_runners (Diane Ludin (US), Agnese Trocchi (IT), Francesca da Rimini (AU))
Founded in 1998, the international collective identity_runners combines free software, feminist avatars, experimental poetics and magical rituals to explore gender, power and capitalism. Their projects have taken them to residencies around the world, from New York to Australia. Her work embraces slow art and recursive processes that offer kinder ways of being and caring for each other and the planet.
Theemetra Harizani (GR)
Originally from Northern Greece and based in Berlin, multidisciplinary artist Theemetra Harizani creates immersive installations that combine performance, video, sound, light and textile art. Her work explores collective rituals and ceremonies and focuses on themes of tenderness, community and resistance to individualism. An advocate of gender equality, Theemetra is a member of various feminist groups and seeks to combat social injustice through artistic expression.
Ella Hebendanz (DE) & Pamela Varela (MX)
Interdisciplinary artists and techno-feminist activists Ella Hebendanz and Pamela Varela are part of the sWitches collective, which reclaims technology as a tool for feminist creation and rebellion. In their work, they criticize patriarchal control over technoscience while acknowledging magic as a form of technological innovation. Their current project “re-c(O)unting” explores colonial histories between continents while creating new, empowering narratives.
WhiteFeather Hunter (CA)
Dr. WhiteFeather Hunter is a Canadian artist and researcher known for her groundbreaking work in the field of bioart. With a PhD in biological arts from the University of Western Australia, she explores feminist perspectives in scientific research. Her work disrupts traditional scientific practices by using menstrual blood and stem cells for tissue engineering, positioning witchcraft as a form of resistance to medical control over women’s bodies.
Lucile Olympe Haute (FR)
Lucile Olympe Haute lives in Paris and Nîmes. She is an artist and researcher who combines spirituality, technology and politics. Her work focuses on ecologically responsible living that goes beyond anthropocentrism and incorporates plants, animals, fungi and bacteria into a broader concept of community. Lucile’s latest projects focus on symbiotic cultures, exploring how interconnected life forms shape our biotopes and redefine the way we coexist with other species.
David Benqué (IE) – Institute of Diagram Studies
The Cork-based designer and researcher uses the language of diagrams to read algorithmic predictions as intricate computer geometries and critically engages with data and code in his practice.
Alessandro Longo – REINCANTAMENTO (IT)
REINCANTAMENTO is an independent research group of philosophers and designers exploring the intersection of technology, magic and society. In their work, they analyze hegemonic technocratic politics and cultural changes in the age of networks and propose concepts for structural change. Their research aims to uncover hidden connections between these fields and promote new ways of thinking about the impact of technology on society.
Elizabeth Littlejohn (CA)
Elizabeth Littlejohn is a communications professor, human rights activist, photojournalist and filmmaker specializing in sustainable design, augmented reality, game design and documentary filmmaking. In 2022, she directed The City Island, a documentary about the destruction of homes on Toronto Island and the management of this park system by island residents.
Ginevra Petrozzi (IT)
Ginevra Petrozzi is an interdisciplinary designer and artist from Italy, now based in the Netherlands. She explores contemporary issues such as care, the future and algorithmic control. In her recent work, she explores the possibilities of mysticism and occult practices in societies characterized by technocratic politics. Revisiting the archetype of the ‘digital witch’, she questions power structures through the lens of sorcery as a means of healing and political rebellion.
Crawlers – Lyndsey Walsh (US) & Jess Cockerill (AU)
As part of the Crawlers collective, Lyndsey Walsh collaborates with Australian artist Jess Cockerill to create works that combine science, art and horror. Tackling themes of queerness, disability and ecocentrism, Crawlers focuses on the rejected or ignored aspects of life. Her work stirs biological and digital debris, uncovering hidden connections in physical and virtual environments, with the aim of turning conventional narratives about nature and the afterlife on their head.
WHEN?
Opening event:
Saturday, 12. October 2024, 6 to 9 pm, with short lectures and performances
Exhibition period:
Tuesday, 15. until Saturday, 19. October 2024, Daily from 2 to 7 pm.
WHERE?
SomoS
Kottbusser Damm 95, 1.0G
10967 Berlin
COSTS?
Free entry
