Subtle Matter and Delicate Bodies

Stemming from an artistic mode of enquiry centred on the enmeshment of physical and virtual realms, four works are produced within seemingly paradoxical contexts of non-locality and site-specificity, distance and proximity, biology and data, and information as it pertains to technology and affect. The mediums of these works range from augmented reality, geo-locative technologies, sonic and spatial interactivity, dance choreography, 3D animation, public projection, and multimedia installation. Produced and exhibited in Kingston, Toronto, and Athens, I explore and define intersecting points of affect and materialism and the transmission of information. A new methodology is shaped through these stages of research creation, underscored by emergence, superimposition, offsets, and projection.

Drawing upon concepts developed and articulated by Karen Barad, Teresa Brennan, Ursula Franklin, and David Bohm, specifically their understanding of interconnectivity on a material level, Subtle Matter & Delicate Bodies makes a case for a more empathetic, equitable ethos to be implemented in urban development and city planning, and social infrastructures, within the consideration of a more-than-human existence.  Underscoring downstream consequences from a historical context, the works aim to tenderly touch upon lack, absence, reverence, and resilience. Through creation, an artistic methodology has formed that interweaves science and technology with poetic and responsive expression.   This dissertation will also look upon the preceding research, studio experimentation, and exhibitions that have led to the four works of Subtle Matters & Delicate Bodies, and the approaches I have taken towards rendering invisible phenomena legible, felt, and considered.