🐙 Episode 8 🐙 is with Agnes Questionmark, an Italian artist based in New York, who identifies as trans-species. Artistically she is known for her use of marine-like sculptures and bodies of water. We talk about her transspecies endeavours, ideas for future projects, her personal experience of being a transwoman, her desire to become a mother and much more.

(00:39): Introduction to Agnes Questionmark

(02:20): Being an International Artist; Motherhood; transformation & transitioning; artificial wombs; failed scientific experiments.

(15:02): Octopi; mermaids; working with Anthromorph; being the experiment of your own work; the ‘human’ as outdated; changing the body; moving beyond nature.

(29:14): Neil Harbison; cyborgs and trans-species relationships; a NEED to transform; echolocation helmet; Project Ceti; communicating with Whales.

(37:05): Working fashion; modelling for Gucci and Valentino; dealing with transphobia; ‘we need more women with a D’; TERFS; 

(50:45): Agnes WhatsApp voice note and podcast outro.

Links: 

• Agnes Questionmark on Instagram
• Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene by Donna Haraway
• ‘Tentacular Thinking: Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene’, which is a chapter inside ‘Staying with the Trouble’ by Donna Haraway
• Drexciya the colonial mermaid story 
• Agnes’s essay ‘Humans are due to Expire Soon’
• Humankind: Solidarity with Non-Human People by Timothy Morton 
• ‘I Listen to Color’, TED talk with Neil Harbisson 
• Cyborg Arts, Neil Harbisson Website
• Neil Harbisson on Instagram
• Project Ceti Website
• Project Ceti on Instagram
• Agnes Questionmark for Valentino

Bodies in the Post Social Media:

All links found here: https://linktr.ee/bodiesinthepost

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💧Episode 7 💧is with Precious Opara, a young emerging figurative artist. Here we talk about how she took the plunge into becoming a full time artist, how she uses her body to communicate the essence of being human, gaining confidence through modelling nude, why female supporters are so needed, and the issue with being seen as ‘a black female artist’.

(00:39): Introduction to Precious Opara.

(05:58): Being inspired by life and nature; feeling unbelievable joy; visualising feelings; London as giving Stockholm syndrome; not rising to racism; the power of diversity.

(18:43): Bodies of water; choosing to be nude; being sexualised; the death of the author; the issue with being seen as ‘a black female artist’; the black female body in art; facts and figures about the lack of representation in the art industry; the responsibility of being a role model; quitting the day job; just PAINT.

(32:40): Art as a ‘slow grow’; getting comfortable with being uncomfortable; Artist residencies; how to find your people;

(37.13): Women as support system; female led business; authenticity.

(42:10): Modelling; consciously avoiding the urge to look desirable to others; the materiality of the body; pushing composition of form; breaking away from stereotypical notions of beauty; the nude shoot; where to find Precious Opara’s work.

Links:

Precious Opara’s Instagram Account

National Museum of Women in the Arts (stats and facts) 

She Curates Website

Bodies in the Post Social Media:

Instagram: @bodiesinthepost

TikTok: @bodiesinthepostpodcast

YouTube: @BodiesInThePostPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🐒 Episode 6 🐒 is with Oscar Salguero, founder of the Interspecies Library in Brooklyn, New York. He is also a researcher, critical designer, and independent book curator.

(00:41): Introduction to Oscar Salguero

(05:17): Living in Tokyo; alternative industrial design; the posthuman condition; alternative interspecies ideas; Anthropocentrism; pigs in cigarettes; monkeys in space; nonhuman organ transplants.

(21:37): Pink chickens; the tiger penis as aphrodisiac; 3D printing organs and rhino horns; lab grown meat and fur; how to move forward ethically?

(33:26): Evolved dinosaurs; a world without humans; Patricia MacCormack’s Posthuman Manifesto; monsters and teratology, the power of the microscope; fleas that caused the ‘Great Plague’ in London; cryptozoology; the film ‘Alien’; the concept of the human as being destabilised. 

(46:25): Horseshoe crabs as sacrifice; artists as shedding light on these issues; books as artifacts and art; the power of transdisciplinarity; how to find the Interspecies library.

Books discussed:

• Ravens (1991) by Masahisa Fukase
• PIG 05049 (2006) by Christien Meindertsma 
• After Man: A Zoology of the Future (1981) by Dougal Dixon
• Tiger Penis Project (2018) by Kuang-Yi Ku
• Pink Chicken Project (2021) by Nonhuman Nonsense
• Space Monkey: The True Story of Miss Baker (1960) by Olive Burt
• Micrographia (1665) by Robert Hooke
• Deep Time (2019) by Lynn Alleva Lilley
• The Ahuman Manifesto: Activism for the End of the Anthropocene (2020) by Patricia MacCormack

Links:

• Oscar Salguero on Instagram
• The Interspecies Library on Instagram
• The Interspecies Library Website
• ‘The potential advantages of transplanting organs from pig to man: A transplant Surgeon's view’
• Pig organ transplants into nonhuman primates
• Monkey survives for two years with pig kidney in ‘extraordinary milestone’
• 3D printing organs becoming a reality
• Lab Grown meat
• The Ahuman Manifesto: Activism for the End of the Anthropocene by Patricia MacCormack

Bodies in the Post Social Media:

Instagram: @bodiesinthepost

TikTok: @bodiesinthepostpodcast

YouTube: @BodiesInThePostPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🧬 Episode 5 🧬 is with Dr. Jo Zayner, a biohacker, scientist, artist, and CEO of The ODIN - a company that sells gene editing kits. We discuss:

(04:03): Science as gatekeeping; feeling fear and trans shame; being (seen as) controversial.

(12:51): Unnatural Selection Netflix documentary; CRISPR; educating people on biotechnologies; enhancing the body; Posthumanism & Transhumanism; lab animals as sacrifice; pharmaceutical companies & capitalism; illegal medical interventions; being seen as a ‘capable’ man but an ‘incapable’ woman.

(27:15): Trans-species; working with artist Agnes Questionmark; does gene-editing change the ‘essence’ of being human?; purifying DNA cells; society fearing technology.

(34:22): The power of gene editing; Nazis & eugenics; becoming human-jellyfish hybrid; injecting CRISPR into the body; the video that went viral.

(43:56): ‘Coming Out’ as trans; biohacking crossing over with transitioning practices; biohacking a temporary pair of boobs; the problem with the gender binary; playing god; an artist using science as a medium.

Links

Jo Zayner on Instagram

The ODIN company

The ODIN on Instagram

Amateur Gods Newsletter

Unnatural Selection documentary

Bodies in the Post Social Media:

Instagram: @bodiesinthepost

TikTok: @bodiesinthepostpodcast

YouTube: @BodiesInThePostPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🌿Episode 4🌿 is with artist and DJ Adriano Renna, known as Proxima on Instagram (@proxima2000taur). We discuss:

(00:56): Using organic material to create art; evolving as an artist; NOT being posthuman?; artists Fecal Matter as inspiration; being sustainable.

(16:23): Emetophobia; using art to heal; body image; the software inside you; art as archive; challenging yourself to look ugly; synchronising the alter ego with the self.

(28:17): Growing up in Switzerland; studying in Sweden; trying to escape the phobia; allowing yourself to feel; therapy; learning to love your body; embracing the mess of life.

Links:

Adriano / Proxima Instagram

Adriano on Sound Cloud

Emetophobia: information & resources

Bodies in the Post Social Media:

Instagram: @bodiesinthepost

TikTok: @bodiesinthepostpodcast

YouTube: @BodiesInThePostPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

⚡️Episode 3⚡️is with Sade English, an artist, art director, curator, and founder of ‘Anticlone Gallery’ – a gallery that champions artists that don’t conform to the norm, and provides an alternative space in the art world. We discuss:

(02:00): How the concept ‘Anticlone’ was born; creating conceptual fashion; lack of black representation in the arts; the importance of diversity.

(16:55): Feeling suffocated at LCF; dropping out and telling her mum; the art/fashion world as controlling; the pandemic period; losing family & gaining family; making art & making clothes; the success of Anticlone Gallery.

(42:28): Anticlone takeovers & exhibitions; keeping Anticlone Gallery accessible for all; future plans for the gallery.

Links:

About Sade

Sade English on Instagram 

Anticlone Gallery on Instagram

Anticlone Gallery website

Anticlone Podcast

Bodies in the Post Social Media:

Instagram: @bodiesinthepost

Tiktok: @bodiesinthepostpodcast

YouTube: @BodiesInThePostPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🖤 Episode 2🖤 is with Parma Ham, a 'high goth', an artist, pioneer of the Wraith community, and designer of the sex and fetish brand Nullo. We discuss:

(02.07): Wraith; the Zine Slaves to Sin; being agender; the Nullo Project.

(13.51): The future of sex & gender; ‘Alien Aesthetics’; humans integrating with technology.

(21.18): Being a role model; moving past the Goth stereotype; being self-assured.

(32.50): Hating school; being bullied; studying philosophy at University; entering the art world and avoiding becoming a plumber; Parma Ham’s outfit.

(42.41): Getting into performance art; sculpture works; archiving and documenting Wraith; draining blood for a performance; artwork plans for the future.

Links:

Parma Ham on Instagram

Buy the Wraith Book Here

Wraith Club on Instagram

The Nullo Project Website

Nullo on Instagram

Slaves to Sin on Instagram

Bodies in the Post Social Media:

Instagram: @bodiesinthepost

Tiktok: @bodiesinthepostpodcast

YouTube: @BodiesInThePostPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💫 Episode 1 💫 is with artist Constantine Semiramis, known as Anthromorph on Instagram. They create animal-esque masks, which they performatively wear for images and videos on Instagram. The masks simultaneously evoke monstrosity as well as other species and earthly bodies. In this episode Constantine explains how the masks helped them through their gender dysphasia and feelings of disassociation provoked specifically from their face. We talk about their gender transition journey through hormone treatment and Face Feminising Surgery. We also discuss the posthuman and trans-species philosophical inspiration behind their art.

(02:05): Growing up in a Greek Orthodox environment; Tumblr; Foucault’s ‘gaze theory’; hyperfemininity.

(13:51): Face Feminising Surgery; gender dysphoria; making the masks; nonhuman animals.

(23:15): Choosing the name Anthromorph; reclaiming ‘monstrosity’; ‘Man’ as the model for the human; quantum physics.

(40:03): Revealing the face; queer shadowing; upcoming documentary; what’s next for art?

Links:

We talked about Michel Foucault’s Panopticon Theory

Information on intersex percentages and characteristics

Anthromorph Instagram account

Constantine’s other Instagram

Constantine’s WEBSITE where you can buy their art

Bodies in the Post Social Media:

Instagram: @bodiesinthepost

Tiktok: @bodiesinthepostpodcast

YouTube: @BodiesInThePostPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all find ourselves living in a fleshy, fallible human body, embedded in an extended technological world, that intermingles with nature, nonhuman animals, biochemical science, and new digital realms. As normative binaries such as male/female, nature/technology, even real/ imagined disintegrate, we find that old definitions of the human cannot encompass the true complexity and diversity of bodies and experiences.

But how can we challenge normative ideals of the human body? Ideals around gender or race or how we should, or should not, be interacting with technology? How can we create new bodily forms and new ways of living that more accurately reflect our posthuman reality? I'm your host, researcher and theorist, Lydia Kaye, and here I speak to art makers, product creators, scientists, and revolution makers, who help us rethink what it is to be human in these contemporary times. But what really comes about through these conversations is that we get to know the humans behind the creations; their inner worlds that form the basis of what drives them. 

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Bodies in the Post Social Media

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

Facebook

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