[image: Patching the World social.jpg]
Dear all,
Please join us for the first in a series of four online talks entitled
‘Patching the World: On Cultures of Techno-solutionism in Art, Politics and
Environmental justice’ co-hosted by Birmingham Centre for Media and
Cultural Research and Lifeworlds Research Cluster in Art, Design and
Ecology.
We’re delighted to have Professor Becky Shaw kicking off the series with
‘The Leak, the Draught, and the Glow: Getting inside the spaces
of the techno-fix and daily practice’ on Tuesday 27th Feb, 4-5pm. For a
full bio and abstract please see below.
To register and receive a zoom link please scan the QR code on the poster
or click through to the following page: bit.ly/patching_the_world
Best wishes,
Theo Reeves-Evison and Kirsten Forkert
-
The Leak, the Draught, and the Glow: Getting inside the spaces
of the techno-fix and daily practice
Abstract:
When thinking about the concept of the environmental techno-fix it is
exemplified (in my mind at least) by digital envisioning materials replete
with abstractions of natural and human relationships, smooth surfaces,
friction-less fluids and labour-free lives. These are well understood as
seductive objects of rhetoric, finance and politics, distance
from the experiences of anyone who engages with technology ‘on the
ground’
in production, construction or use. However, the relationship is not
distinct, as vision and ideals are carried in our daily practices, as if
like chlorine in water. Getting ‘inside’ the space between visions and
experience is vital, to avoid either foreclosing valuable technological
change, or imposing change that is destructive, ineffective, unfair or
refused. In the following I will explore how artistic practice research
offers a capacity to explore this ‘space’ through material engagement.
This
will include exploring projects that literally seek to get ‘inside’
encounters with water infrastructure (the meter and the geophone), with
architectural practice (the material ‘joint’ and window frame) and inside
our experiences of radiant home heating. Across these I will reflect on how
artistic focus and ‘play’ with the scale, space, time and materiality of
our technological services can build a shared space of encounter and
critical reflection.
Speaker Bio:
Becky Shaw is an artist and Professor in Fine Art Practice at Birmingham
City University. She makes live, collaborative artworks that
examine the tension between individuals, environment, tools and social
structures, often in institutions of 'public good' including healthcare,
education, utilities and work. Artworks have been commissioned by
organisations including City of Calgary Water Services, Sarah Wigglesworth
Architects, Age Concern, Guys and St Thomas Hospital and with arts
organisations including Hayward Gallery, Walsall Art Gallery, Sainsbury
Centre, Amstelveen Art Incentive Prize and Ar/Ge Kunst Bolzano. A series of
interdisciplinary funded research projects involve making artworks and
leading teams of other artists, generating fruitful methodological
exploration and growing communities of interest and engagement. This
currently includes working with energy researchers to explore heating
transition in Romania, Finland, Sweden and the UK (CHANSE fund, 2022), and
with cultures of childhood researchers to explore children's experiences of
institutions (AHRC 2018, and AHRC exhibition fund with Manchester Art
Gallery, 2023). Becky led Sheffield Hallam University's art and design PhD
programme, and staff mentoring cluster Social and Cultural Narratives,
while Reader in Fine Art (until 2023) and co-lead art and architecture
project Static, Liverpool, in the 2000s.
Dr. Theo Reeves-Evison (He/him)
Senior Lecturer in Theoretical and Contextual Studies
Birmingham School of Art
Birmingham City University
www.reeves-evison.com
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