New Meanings
Featured Pāhekoheko - Combining, Co-operative, Joint, United, Interactive, Associated, Integrated, Mixed: Collaborative Practices to Form New Cultural Imaginaries
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Becky Nunes
This paper describes the emergence of a framework of collaboration to support creative practice in the service of ecological alliances. This framework has been developed in a post-colonial, intersectional and embodied context, and as an entanglement between two visual arts practitioners working in very different but connected contexts. Can reparative indigenous practices inform a framework of collaboration and exchange in the Global North, without adding a further burden to the colonised? I suggest that collaborative, cross-cultural and post-colonial dialogues can inform cultural practices with the aim of decentering the captalist and imperialist ideologies of the Global North and creating a 'reverse flow" of decolonising forces. These ideas are explored through the undertaking of a creative long-distance collaboration with U.K based artist Becky Nunes and indigenous artist Maraea Timutimu (Tūhoe, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui) to explore the possibilities of dialogues between both artists and landscapes. How can these kōrero (dialogues) contribute to a greater understanding of our connectedness to land, and assist in reparations for the exhausted landscapes here in the Global North? The outcomes of this collaboration are reflected on and insights drawn upon to suggest an innovative methodological framework for collaborative post-colonial practice.
The Sun Is Shining above the Clouds: A Collaborative Film Script Written by Women, Men, and Machines - European Forum for Advanced Practices, Context Working Group
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Adnan Hadzi
In a world where urban ruins and post-industrial landscapes are increasingly viewed as relics of obsolescence, The Sun is Shining above the Clouds emerges as an evocative, multi-layered film script about abandonment, renewal, and intersections of human and machine narratives. Grounded in field trips and discussions by the European Forum for Advanced Practices’ Context Working Group, this script transcends conventional disciplinary boundaries, weaving together ethnographic research, speculative fiction, and cinematic storytelling. The paper critically examines the filmscript’s use of abandonment as a motif to discuss larger issues of sustainability, post-industrial adaptation, and technological obsolescence. The ruins become a metaphor for the cyclical nature of human ambition, where once-celebrated innovations succumb to redundancy, much like AI projects poised on the precipice of relevance and decay. The script also introduces a powerful speculative element, an AI ghost, flickering with digital glitches, speaking from the ruins of abandoned data centers. This voice-from-the-future serves as both a warning and a reflection on the ethical dilemmas of artificial intelligence, echoing the impermanence of human endeavors. By intertwining ethnographic exploration with speculative storytelling, The Sun is Shining above the Clouds script invites a reconsideration of the spaces we leave behind. It challenges the reader to reflect on the material and digital detritus of human civilization, questioning how past innovations shape, or haunt, our futures. As the research for the film script unfolds, it suggests that ruins are not merely sites of decay but landscapes of emergent possibility, where new meanings, narratives, and futures are forged.
Digital Versus Physical: Comparative Study of the Viewing Experience of Archived Photographs
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nitendra Singh, Aneesha Sharma
Nowadays, photographs are predominantly created and archived in digital formats, which gives a distinctive viewing experience in contrast to physical photographs. A particular encounter of the visual and sensory engagement with physical photographs exists, triggering questions about how this transition has influenced the viewing experience associated with digital photographs. Physical photographs are typically displayed and appreciated through albums, frames, and similar mediums, which contribute to the spatial and tactile dimensions of the experience. Meanwhile, such tangible representations are notably absent in the case of digital photographs. Furthermore, both formats possess different natural characteristics linked to individuals' emotional, aesthetic, and interpretative experiences. Although, materiality is not only physical but mental as well dependent upon its intention, process, consumption, discarding, arranging, and distribution. This further impacts the understanding of the photographs as visual images. Digital photographs, shaped by technology and interaction, are evolving in multiple ways, giving a unique experience. The paper examines how different lived experiences associated with physical and digital formats of photographs could offer an understanding of different perspectives for the similar visuals available—the phenomenological approach will be used as methodology. We interview the participants regarding their experiences while engaging with photographs. The selected images encompass physical and digital reproductions of identical subjects, each exhibiting distinct thematic elements. The empirical data collected in the form of narrative subsequently underwent thematic analysis to interpret the characteristics inherent in the experiences described. The study illustrates experiential differences between digital and physical photographs
