Posthumanism
The fourth edition of Salon of Queer Indoctrinations was centered around the theme of Posthumanism. The night included two performances and two short film screenings. The works presented were:
“Latent Space/Body: Throat” by Pedro Latas
Language controls narratives of (state-sanctioned) oppression and also works as an indicator of belonging to a specific social group, thus becoming a tool of safety. With language as a tool for self-determination, the “common people” are able to take back some power to revolt against institutional and political violence that actively thwarts and denies our existences. In the Queer community, one can find many efforts to create a lexicon that reflects non-normative existences: Irish is being revived with new vocabulary; in Libya, an Arabic-based Queer sublanguage arises with the specific intent to avoid appropriating Western words, a clear decolonial attitude.
But language is flawed and reifies – that is, it treats a complex idea (or being) as a somewhat well-defined “thing”. It is erroneous by nature. Perhaps to properly capture the complexities of human identity, “non-human” entities need to come into play. Entities that arise through the entanglement of technology with the fleshy body. “Latent Space/Body: throat” speculates an un-spoken language for un-sounding throats that utter un-definable ideas.
“Air” by Milo Sharafeddine
Air is an ongoing artistic research project about the alternative history of technology. This video installment is the first in the series, acting as a non-chronological timeline of technological breakthroughs that created discourse about death and mortality. Nonlinearity in the work is understood not just as a collision of times, but as an indifference to time— a decision to follow an order that is more emotive, personal, and narrative.
“Of Myriad Origins” by Kwinnie Lê
The video explores queer monstrosity by re-invigorating and reclaiming pre-colonial belief systems surrounding the Vietnamese tattoo traditions. The origins of the Vietnamese tattoo traditions, tracing back the tale to ancient Vietnam, tells of the story of people who worked in the water who tattooed themselves with scales and eyes of watermonsters. These markings on the body were to protect themselves at sea, to strengthen their connection with the dragon ancestor and to live in harmony with the animals in the water. Ancestral tattoo traditions, that harbour posthuman beliefs, have been eradicated through the colonial expansion on a global level. I believe reclaiming these traditions are a tool for Queer futurity, giving life to the tradition in our time, context and life.
“Drift, Darkness or Am I Dreaming?” by An Kuper
Through an absurdist and futurist/dystopic performance I’d like to let the audience think and reflect on subjects like autonomy and (queer) identities in an AI dominated, dystopic and science fiction world. AI sets the rules, and we follow—just like that. Morals and ethics, shaped not by us, but by unseen designers. What if we riot, resist, rave? What if the system isn’t as unshakable as it seems? Do we lean toward the precise logic of AI or the messy, unpredictable nature of humanity?
These questions come to the surface in the work (in progress) “Drift, Darkness or Am I Dreaming?” The work delves into a future AI-driven society where evolved humans become commodities. These evolved humans have (f.i.) hyper-hygienic tongues, adequate saliva flow, nutrient tattoo’s and rechargeable sexual organs. Their augmented bodies and enhanced abilities are marked and sold, to contribute to a capitalist economy where even personal identity and sexuality are monetized. Human interaction is simplified, emotions have been made superficial and actions predictable (algorithms).
About the artists:
Pedro Latas (They/He) is a composer, multimedia artist, performer and creative coder from Portugal, currently based in The Hague, The Netherlands.Their work draws inspiration from their own queer identity as well as other queer experiences in a world that seeks to suppress non-normative bodies and existences.
Driven by the struggle for body autonomy and integrity, Pedro researches the deeply rooted interconnections between digital media and how it reframes the inherent entanglement between human bodies and their environments. Their work focuses then mostly on the production of computer-assisted performances and live (interactive or generated) electronics.
From ensemble works to solo live-electronics performance, Pedro wishes to engage in radical acts of appreciation of – and care for – the human body, finding beauty and power in all the limitations it entails. Through these acts, Pedro hopes that radical acts of solidarity towards one another will naturally arise.
Beyond compositional work, their practice also delves into collective free-improvisation, occasional DJ’ing and radio broadcasting.
Milo Sharafeddine is a Lebanese visual artist and writer based in The Hague. Their work is often inspired by the instability of personhood, place and its social meaning, ghosts and haunted symbolism, and technology—specifically digital imagery and recording, internet-age media, and their alternative histories.
Kwinnie Lê (they/them) is an artist, researcher, poet and shapeshifter. Drawing from mythology, folklore and oral histories, they situate ancestral traditions in contemporary urban life and aim to re-suture narratives of classification. Currently, they’re investigating the revival, reclamation and (re)inscription of pre-colonial traditional tattoo practices as a practice of decolonisation and employ semi-fictional narratives as a mode of critical speculation. Under the project name “the land of the tattooed”, they trace tattoo histories to engage with a myriad of themes such as practices of exclusion, the position of tattoo history in the contemporary art canon and the planetary crisis. As a practitioner of skin marking, their work aligns with the Vietnamese ancestral tradition specifically. The works are manifested in performances, textile and poetry, though morphing into many more forms.
An Kuper (b.1998, The Netherlands) their practice is a search for identity; a dancebattle with the norm; a loving alternative, engaging with socio-political subjects, while maintaining a spark of oeh la la and a childlike imagination.
They question who is in control of the narratives about queer bodies and they aim to create alternatives for these (unwanted) narratives. Their interest lies in unravelling and addressing power dynamics, specifically within the gender binary, in (body) language and new technologies.
