#practice-based research

Above, I am sharing an engaging article on Douglas Hofstadter’s approach to designing software as consciousness. As much as I am fascinated by his work and by the advancements in this field of research, I feel unease that is important for me to voice. 

The concept of designing machines to be more human brings out a burning issue from the outset from my point of view. On the very first page of her paper 'Figuring the Human in AI and Robotics' (2007) Lucy Suchman mentions 'cultural imaginaries' which are effectively constructs based on scientific data mingling with assumptions on human-ness. Suchman touches on the duality of these imaginaries that are both infused with the ideas of sameness and difference between human, animal, non-organic matter, technology, etc.. 

Sometimes I remember this blog exists.

Anyway, I wrote ~500 words about creating a doll character through posing and repetition across photos and it's not not grad school work because I am studying emotional relationships with inanimate objects and imaginary companions.

Hi! *waves* I’m Else/Xun (they/it), a new Fanhackers mod writing from London. I use the names, Else and 旬, interchangeably and at times together. I speak Mandarin, English and a hybrid of both, as well as a little bit of Hokkien, which I have been trying to learn.

I became aware of fandom when I was 11 and heartbroken over Madoka Magica. From there I had engaged in fan practice in several ways by drawing, doujinshi-making as gifts for friends, cosplaying, and attempting to write fanfic (never successful), but most of the time I found joy in looking at works created by other fans. At the moment my fannish attention is on Genshin Impact, Good Omens, 将进酒, and Mob Psycho 100.

I’m an artist and researcher studying for a Masters in Arts and Humanities. My current research interest is in the derivative practice in knowledge production that fan practice is a part of, and in interrogating the pursuit of autonomous authorship and the over-familiarisation of support. The research is guided by an art practice that is, to some extent, fannish, that involves working with what is already there: gathering, sharing, recycling, translating, making visible, in the forms of moving image, lists, and writings, to name a few.

With Fanhackers, I hope to share my learning process with you, which will involve the knowledge produced by many others, and the relations and connections between them. If there is anything that you want to read, please let me know.

Computational Arts Research Week 16

Computational Arts Research Week 15

What produces presence or a sense of presence?

Unfinished worlds: What would happen if the worlds we construct don't present a totalitarian idea of what a world is?

These worlds are speculative places, spaces for research and interpretations. 

This week’s lecture and discussion with Rachel Falconer brought some unexpectedly interesting ideas. Unexpected because I am fairly skeptical about the concept of extended reality. This is possibly partly due to my lack of knowledge of the field and its particular interests explored through various creative lenses. My practice was always “analogue” - deeply rooted in embodiment and physical presence, in ‘being here’ - experiencing worlds first hand. But perhaps I was not thinking far enough when thinking about extended realities. 

Computational Arts Research Week 14

"The body is our general medium for having a world.” Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Studying works of some of the artists I admire, I always found it fascinating to observe the circular nature of their practice. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, yet my feeling is that more often than not, the fabric with which they weave their stories and artworks stays the same. As an artist in the making, for a very long time, I found it difficult to pick one particular direction. I was worried that making the choice, I am giving up all the other possibilities. It took me another few years to realise that choosing a particular direction doesn’t mean giving up anything. It only means that there is always going to be a common thread between the works, but the artistry would be in distinguishing between them by looking at the same problem through a different lens, shaping it into a different form, twisting it and turning it upside down, re-purposing it and its parts.