Emergent Practices Beyond the Human:

 

The world is a system made up of many small interactions. Each moment is an event -- an active, participatory state where all parts of a system (human, non-human, living, non-living) affect and are affected. I develop art that locates itself within these events. It is an art of interspecies entanglement, evolving boundaries, scale shifting, conversion devices, and an intricate weaving of new and old narratives. 

 

I build environments that facilitate events for multiple species to encourage cross-species interactions. The work is a functioning system, where humans and nonhumans are invited to enter, explore, and engage. It is participatory in nature, and changes through intentional and/or unintentional action. There is no neutral. With these interspecies spaces, I aim to illuminate the connectedness of our environments, and provide a viewpoint that reframes our individual roles and impacts in the world (and its impacts on us). 

 

My works have explored connections between humans and bacteria, bees, pigeons, roaches, fruit flies, oak saplings and harvester arts. These explorations were activated in various venues including gallery spaces, parks, concerts, backyards and corn fields. 

​

​

 

The ideas that underlie these methods have precedents in the process philosophy of Bruno Latour and Jane Bennett; and the non-anthropocentric sciences of Donna Haraway and Eduardo Kohn. My practice also grows from the rich history of artists working within these themes: Meg Webster and Amy Youngs’ living systems; Simon Starling’s exploration of process, culture, economics, migration; and Agnes Meyer-Brandis’ playful combination of storytelling, technology, and habitat.