“Bioart Coven—Co-creating community at the intersection of contemporary witchcraft and biotechnologies” presented by Hunter
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Virtual (full papers)
Presentation Title:
- Bioart Coven—Co-creating community at the intersection of contemporary witchcraft and biotechnologies
Presentation Subtheme:
- Resilient stories
Presenter(s):
Abstract:
Bioart Coven is an intersectional feminist collective of 75 international artists, makers, and activists, including cisgender, queer and nonbinary contemporary witches, witchcraft enthusiasts and occult-curious; we are technophiles, hackers, scientists, and healthcare workers as well as academic re-searchers and non/post-academic critical thinkers—all of whom have gathered around a powerful, niche set of sociopolitical interests. These interests are encapsulated as a promiscuous interchange between witchcraft and TechnoFeminism, which I call TechnoFemininst Witchcraft. The Bioart Coven name gives an appreciative nod to, and adapts of the title of the book, Bioart Kitchen; Art, Feminism and Technoscience by Lindsay Kelley. In Bioart Kitchen, Kelley investigates the history of domestic labour and its role in sci-tech development, revisited through a feminist lens. Important to note is that she refrains from mentioning or alluding to witches, though many of us have worked from our kitchens. Bioart Coven initiates from a feminist historiography of the figure of the witch as intimately linked with the birth, development, and socioeconomic expansion of industrial technologies—including biotechnologies. As a coven, we look at how working with vital materiality, technoscientific and communal ritual processes across digital space informs relational aspects of consumptive culture, through the lens of the witch.
