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fringejoyride_residency_review [2014-04-23 17:07] majafringejoyride_residency_review [2014-04-28 02:12] (current) alkan
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 ==== Fringejoyride Residency Review ==== ==== Fringejoyride Residency Review ====
  
-<html><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/13794112893" title="_22_0174 by foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/13794112893_f959811edd.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="_22_0174"></a></html><html><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/13898769383" title="15A_0164 by foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3702/13898769383_c71d5f1d21.jpg" width="560" alt="15A_0164"></a></html>+Reflections on a microresidency by [[http://fringejoyride.com/|Lisa Ma]] 
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 +<html><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/13794112893" title="_22_0174 by foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/13794112893_f959811edd.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="_22_0174"></a></html> 
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 +<html><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/13898769383" title="15A_0164 by foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3702/13898769383_c71d5f1d21.jpg" width="560" alt="15A_0164"></a></html>
  
 == How do you define ‘biotechnology?’ == == How do you define ‘biotechnology?’ ==
  
-I stopped dead. This was the beginning presentation to my week’s intensive Micro-Residency at Fo:AM. I didn’t quite realize the emphasis on the word ‘intensive’ when founder Maja Kuzmanovic first proposed it to me. It definitely sounded fantastic that the whole core team was offering to spend the whole week helping me decipher my project, open conundrums, pull out gaping research holes that would eventually be filled by a gooey dough kneaded by brain-boggling dilemmas and heavily researched analysis…+I stopped dead. This was my opening presentation that would mark the beginning of a weeklong intensive microresidency at FoAM. I didn’t quite realize the emphasis on the word ‘intensive’ when founder Maja Kuzmanovic first proposed it to me. It definitely sounded fantastic that the whole core team was offering to spend an entire week helping me decipher my project, open conundrums, and pull out gaping research holes that would eventually be filled in with a gooey dough kneaded by brain-boggling dilemmas and heavily researched analysis… Here was represented fifteen years of expertise in 'transdisciplinary labs for speculative culture' -- famous for their dealings with food, biology, ecology, health, and the philosophy surrounding these.
   
-== Are you sure that’s not just ‘biology’, not ‘biotechnology’? ==+== Are you sure that’s not just ‘biology’ instead of ‘biotechnology’? ==
  
-Here was a 15 year expertise of “transdisciplinary labs for speculative culture" that’s famous for their dealings with food, biology, ecology, health, and the philosophy surrounding them. I first heard their name almost in an urged “how could you have not heard of them” way when I first brought my idea of eating invasive species in Ghent, Belgium. Here, I was proposing that biotechnology was in need of expanding outside the glamorous media attention on the stem-cell cures and spotlight-grabbing transhumanism and that the everyday experience- the supermarket tomato, the sugars in our toothpaste, doctors and the dentist, the parrot-less parks, the preserved ‘nature’… I was insisting that every part of the biology that we experience had scientific human-action. That this was all biotechnology.+I first heard of FoAM in a 'how could you not have heard of themway when I brought my concept of eating invasive species to Ghent, Belgium. Here, I was proposing that a public understanding of biotechnology was in need of expanding beyond glamorous media attention focusing on stem-cell cures and spotlight-grabbing transhumanism and look at everyday experiences -- the supermarket tomato, the sugars in our toothpaste, the doctor and dentist we visit, the parrot-less parks, our preserved ‘nature’I was insisting that every area of the biology we experience in daily life has a dimension of scientific human action. That this was indeed all biotechnology.
  
 == So what do you suppose technology is? == == So what do you suppose technology is? ==
  
-  * human applications /skills/ tools towards a specific goal?+  * human applications/skills/tools devised for a specific goal?
   * stages of ‘progress’ since language?   * stages of ‘progress’ since language?
-  * anything that was invented after you were born” –Alan Kay+  * 'anything that was invented after you were born' (--Alan Kay)
  
-I suddenly realized that I wasn't working with a bemused academic who’d be used to a field but had never seen it in a speculative perspective. Here at Foam, I was dancing with a team of speculative experts who tears this stuff apart all the time. This was a week of devil’s advocacy in the format of a sweatshop zen-ship that I would be extremely grateful for.+I suddenly realized that I wasn't working with a bemused academic intimately acquainted with his or her field but never seeing it from a speculative perspective. Here at FoAM I was dancing with a team of speculative experts who tear this stuff apart all the time. This was a week of devil’s advocacy in the format of a sweatshop zen-ship that I was to be extremely grateful for.
  
-I came to Fo:AM to answer a very large mental block about my newest project about a new speculative fringe community, The Bioluddites. In the past monthsI’ve been working with Near Now in Nottingham, England, on a way to contextualizing a public project, a movement even of eating invasive plants and animals in the Vegetarian Capital of Ghent, Belgium. This spiral of local, social activities supported by the Ghent collaborators at Timelab had lead to a documentary filmed by the national TV, on-going collaborations with the scientists at the university, ‘folk’ practitioners of eating invasive to become local celebrities and I even fed the mayor with an invasive Canadian goose leg a la amateur-style cooking. +I came to FoAM to resolve a very large mental block about my most recent project on a new speculative fringe community, the Bioluddites. In the past four months I’ve been working with Near Now in Nottingham, England, on a way to contextualize a public project, even a movement that eats invasive plants and animals in the Vegetarian Capital of Ghent, Belgium. This spiral of local, social activities supported by the Ghent collaborators at Timelab had lead to a documentary filmed by national TV, ongoing collaborations with scientists at the university, and ‘folk’ practitioners eating invasive species and  becoming local celebritiesI even fed the mayor with an invasive Canadian goose leg //a la// amateur-style cooking. 
  
-But what does this experiment mean beyond local enthusiasm? What do I do with the insights from these stories? Essentially how can speculative design use this intensely local project to create a meme that challenges us globally and socially?+But what does this experiment mean beyond local enthusiasm? What more could I do with the insights gleaned from these stories? Essentiallyhow can speculative design use this intensely local project to create a meme that challenges us globally and socially?
  
-== So invasive species are the Bioluddite’s biotechnology(Because previously invasive species were a scientific glitch) ==+== So invasive species are the Bioluddite’s biotechnology (because previously invasive species were a scientific glitch)==
  
 +I'd been fascinated by the story of the Luddites and the sense of ‘city pride’ their history had brought to Nottingham. Luddites were nineteenth-century activists making a stand to save their traditional social models and critiqued the profit-driven production processes enabled by machines in the industrial revolution. But nowdays, being a ‘luddite’ is commonly interpreted as someone that doesn’t use Twitter or a smart phone, or, according to www.urbandictionary.com, 
 +'generally claims things were "just fine" back in the day, and refuses to replace/update failing equipment/software/computers on the basis that they were just fine 10 years ago.'
  
 +I proposed that the modern relevance of the Luddite movement perhaps lay more suitably in the world of a broader, everyday human experience-centred definition of biotechnology, because biotechnology is pervasive in our everyday lives and most of the time outside of our control. Perhaps the Bioluddites could help us navigate the overwhelmingly vast spectrum of biotechnology that we depend upon, and find a twenty-first century model for practicing the principles of Ludditism -- becoming a role model for a new form of activism that actively seeks productive benefits on top of a critique of modern society?
  
-I'd been fascinated by the story of the Luddites and the sense of ‘city pride’ the history had brought to Nottingham. Luddites were 19th century activists making a stand to save their traditional social models and critiqued the profit driven production processes enabled by machines in the Industrial Revolution. But nowdays, being a ‘luddite’ is commonly interpreted as someone that doesn’t use twitteror a smart phone or, according to www.urbandictionary.com :  +If this wasn’t ambitious enoughI was also hoping to convert the people at FoAM into Bioluddites…
-“A luddite generally claims things were "just fine" back in the day, and refuses to replace/update failing equipment/software/computers on the basis that they were just fine 10 years ago.”+
  
-I proposed that perhaps the modern relevance of Luddites would lie more suitably in the world of my broader, everyday human experience definition of biotechnology because biotechnology is pervasive in our everyday lives and most of the time outside of our control. Perhaps Bio-luddites could help to navigate society in the overwhelmingly vast spectrum of biotechnology that we depend upon and in finding a 21st Century model of performing the principles of Ludditism, become a role model of a new form of activism that gives productive benefits on top of the critics to the modern society?+== Have you read the Biopunk Manifesto==
  
-If the above wasn’t ambitious enough, I was also hoping to convert Fo:AM into a Bioluddites+I was ashamed to sayI had not. But after much reading, fact-checking and many, many debates I was happy to conclude that although the agenda of biohackers and biopunks is to empower everyone through science literacy, there is definite room for Bioluddites to play counter part that navigates through large systems and existing modern lifestyles rather than on a laboratory scale. The Bioluddites deal with a world where biotechnology leaks out of the laboratory (whether it’s a pharmaceutical laboratory or a biohacker’s test tube) and into the everyday experience of mundane survival in the modern world. Whereas biohackers seek to disrupt conventions within the scientific community, the Bioluddites would work on the wider scale of society at large.
  
-== Have you read A Biopunk’s Manifesto? ==+== That was just day one… ==
  
-I was ashamed to say, I had not. But after much readingfact checking and manymany debates I was happy to decide that although biohackers and biopunks have the agenda of empowering everyone through science literacythere is definite room for Bioluddites to play a counter part that navigate through large systems and existing modern lifestyles rather than on laboratory scale. Bioluddites deals with a world where biotechnology leaks out of the laboratory (whether if it’s a pharmaceutical laboratory or a biohacker’s test-tube) and into the experiences of the everyday mundanely of modern survivalWhereas biohackers disturbs within a scientific community, the Bioluddites navigates at the social scale.+Along with the FoAM participantsfor the remaining week pursued every data source possible alongside my own previous hiddendisorganizedlong-procrastinated research to find out what these Bioluddites might look like, believe in, approve of. It was like being part of a detective teamslowly finding clues to navigate what Bioluddite would eat or wear, how they might behave and organize themselves, and what their agenda might beThese exercises brought us one step closer to this speculative community, drawing upon a spectrum of people who already practice against technology: 
  
-== That was just day one….==+  * the Amish in their use of religion  
 +  * the Luddites, using military power 
 +  * the Neoluddites (except for their association with the infamous Unibomber) with their use of literature 
  
-For the remaining week, The Fo:AM and I pursued through every data source possible and my previous hidden, disorganized, long-procrastinated research to find what these Bioluddites might look like, believe in, approve offIt was like a detective teamslowly finding clues to navigate what a Bioluddite might eat, wear, behave, how they might organize themselves and what their agenda might be. These exercises brought us one step closer to this speculative communitydrawing upon spectrum of people who already practice against technology: +In order to socialize luddism in our age of peer-to-peer and TED Talks, the Bioluddites would look like no average activistIn fact, their roles would be closer to modern-day life-coachesgurus and mentors, and through combination of information, inspiration and entertainment navigate and ‘nudge’ us through the plethora of biotech consumer choices. 
  
-The Amish used religion,\\  +In the public presentation for my research gatheringwe outsourced brainstorming on attendeesalong with biotech question-themed foods featuring our list of real-life conundrums surrounding biotechnology. The responses were surprising. Most of the answers skipped the question’s details and delved directly into the systems behind and the expectations of biotechnology. The critiques were of the biotechnology corporations that stretched beyond the human scale. With the help of the FoAM team, we’ll prototype some of the symbols that are incorporated into a Bioluddite’s coaching environment.
-The Luddites used military power\\ +
-The Neoluddites (except for its association with the infamous Unibomber) used literature.\\ +
  
-In order to socialize luddism in our age of peer-to-peer and TED Talks, the Bioluddites would look like no average activist. In fact, their roles would fit more into the modern-day life-coaches/ gurus and mentorsnavigating and through a combination of information /inspiration /entertainment / to ‘nudge’ us through the plethora of biotech consumer choices+Bioluddites do not claim to be another revolutionary movement with a manifesto; they would have more a [[bioluddite_charter|charter]] of professionalism. Bioluddites are a gap in the knowledge market somewhere between techno-philosophy, self-quantificationsustainable living and the guru-economy of digital prophets, fashion evangelists, lifestyle curators and media ecologists.
  
-In our public presentation for the Research Gathering, we outsourced brainstorming on the attendees along with biotech question-themed foods by with our list of real-life conundrums surrounding biotechnology. The responses were surprising. Most of the answers skipped the question’s details and delved directly into the systems behind and the expectations of biotechnology. The critiques were of the biotechnology corporations that stretched beyond the human scale. With the help of the Fo:AM team, we’ll prototype some of the symbols that are incorporated into a Bioluddite’s coaching environment. +Did I manage to convert everyone at FoAM into Bioluddites? Maybe they already are, a little bit.
- +
-Bioluddites do not claim to be another revolutionary movement with a manifesto; it would have more a [[bioluddite_charter|charter]] of professionalism. Bioluddites are a gap in the knowledge market somewhere between techno-philosophy, self-quantification, sustainable living and the guru-economy of Digital Prophets, Fashion Evangelists, lifestyle curators and media ecologists. +
- +
-Did I manage to convert Fo:AM into Bioluddites? Maybe they already are, a little bit.+
  
 <html><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/13899118674" title="__5_0153 by foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/13899118674_30072d80b4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="__5_0153"></a></html> <html><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/13899118674" title="__5_0153 by foam, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/13899118674_30072d80b4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="__5_0153"></a></html>
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-related+Related: 
 + 
   * [[Fringejoyride residency notes]]   * [[Fringejoyride residency notes]]
   * [[Bioluddite charter]]   * [[Bioluddite charter]]
   * [[notes on the luddites]]   * [[notes on the luddites]]
   * [[http://fo.am/research-gathering-lisa-ma/|Research Gathering at FoAM]]   * [[http://fo.am/research-gathering-lisa-ma/|Research Gathering at FoAM]]
-  * [[https://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157643831604755/|Photos on flicrk]]+  * [[https://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157643831604755/|Photos on flickr]]
   * [[:/future_fabulators/human_invasive_interaction|scenarios on human-invasives interaction]]   * [[:/future_fabulators/human_invasive_interaction|scenarios on human-invasives interaction]]
   * [[:/future_fabulators/residencies|Future Fabulators residencies]]   * [[:/future_fabulators/residencies|Future Fabulators residencies]]
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  • fringejoyride_residency_review.1398272831.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2014-04-23 17:07
  • by maja