SoWhat Matters Lab
Posthumanism and Climate Crisis – What needs to be done?
The lab references post humanist and feminist thinking to explore and probe radical future practice models that address the interconnected climate, social, cultural, and economic crisis.
The 'So What’ element is a constant reminder of criticality that engages cross-disciplinary collaboration to avoid siloed thinking, inviting instead radical systems responses. Matter and materiality are the things and concepts we work with to form our worlds and ways of being, and these require critical design.
The lab engages posthumanities in terms of how individuals and communities can be pro-active, sustainable, and creative in the face of deficit economies that are intent on destroying the natural, social and cultural ecosystems for resource exploitation, and the implied use of the matter (+ what matters?) of the planet.
Activities
The lab will encourage cross-disciplinary discussions, inviting guest contributions and collaborations with inspiring and radical thinkers from across the academia and beyond. It will also engage in mapping and reading of current materials and methodologies relevant for work in the posthumanist key in art and design practices of all mediums and theoretical models, and formulate new concepts, provocations, and RKE projects around ecology of practice.
People
Co-leads
Members
- Gabriela Daniels - Programme Director: Science, London College of Fashion
- Tim Stephens - Educational Developer (Curriculum), Central Services
- Helen Storey - Professor in Fashion Science, London College of Fashion
- Donatella Barbieri - Principle Lecturer: Performance
- Dinu Bodiciu - PhD Researcher
- Lydia Kaye - PhD Researcher
- Katherine Pogson - PhD Researcher
Outputs
Burcikova, Mila (2021) Mundane Durability: The Everyday Practice of Allowing Clothes to Last. In: 4th Conference on Product Lifetimes and the Environment (PLATE) Proceedings. University of Limerick, Ireland, pp. 1-7. https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/18591/1/Burcikova_Mundane%20durability%202021.pdf
Colman, F. J. 2020. “Feminising politics: notes on material and temporal feminist modal logics in action.” Matter: Journal of New Materialist Research, volume 1 (2020): 1-22 ISSN: 2604-7551(1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1344/jnmr.v1i1.29895
Colman, F.J. 2017. “Digital Feminicity” in The PostHuman Glossary. Braidotti, R.; Hlavajova, M. (Eds.) Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 154-157. https://antropost.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/posthuman-glossary.pdf
Colman, F.J. 2018. “Agency” in the New Materialism Almanac. https://newmaterialism.eu/almanac/a/agency.html
Stephens, Tim (2021) A meditative enquiry into presence: Unmaking the autoethnographic self. Journal of Writing in Creative Practice, 14 (2). pp. 161-178. ISSN 1753 5190 https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/18704/1/JWCP_14_2_StephensFinal.pdf
Williams, Dilys and Burcikova, Mila and Black, Sandy (2023) Net Zero as a Catalyst in fashion micro and small enterprises: Contributing to a wellbeing economy in the UK. Discussion Paper. Creative Industries: Policy and Evidence Centre. https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/20141/
How to get involved
Please contact the hub leads or lcfresearch@arts.ac.uk.
Who is this hub for?
Any researchers interested in the practice, theories and methods of posthumanism, with an interest in sustainability and ecology.
Who is the point of contact?
Mila Burcikova: m.burcikova@arts.ac.uk
Naomi Bulliard: n.bulliard@arts.ac.uk
Felicity Colman: f.colman@arts.ac.uk